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COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES AMONG
ALIENS AND NATIONAL GROUPS
HEARINGS
BBFOSB THB
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
UNITED STATES SENATE
EIGHTY-FIRST CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
S. 1832
A BILL TO AMEND THE IMMIGRATION ACT OF
OCTOBER 16, 1918, AS AMENDED
PART 2
SEPTEMBER 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 16, 28, AND 29, 1949
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES AMONG
ALIENS AND NATIONAL GROUPS
{ HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
UNITED STATES SENATE
EIGHTY-FIEST CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
U^i
S. 1832
A BILL TO AMEND THE IMMIGRATION ACT OF
OCTOBER 16, 1918, AS AMENDED
PART 2
SEPTEMBER 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 28, AND 29, 1949
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT TRINTING OI'FICB
WASHINGTON : 1950
A
1/
'^l.-*. ^P£Rim"ENOENT Of OOCUMfcNib
I OQT231950
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
PAT McCARRAN, Nevada, Chairman
HARLBY M. KILGORE, West Virginia ALEXANDER WILEY, Wisconsin
JAMES O. EASTLAND, Mississippi WILLIAM LANGER, North Dakota
HERBERT R. O'CONOR, Maryland HOMER FERGUSON, Micliigan
FRANK P. GRAHAM, North Carolina FORREST C. DONXELL, Missouri
ESTES KEFAUVBR, Tennessee WILLIAM E. JENNER, Indiana
J. G. SonRwiNE, Counsel
Special Subcommittee To Investigate Immigration and Naturalization
PAT McCARRAN, Nevada, Chairman
JAMES O. EASTLAND, Mississippi WILLIAM LANGER, North Dakota
HERBERT R. O'CONOR, Maryland FORREST C. DONNELL, Missouri
Richard Arens, Staff Director
(Senator J. Melville Broughton, of North Carolina, was a member of the Committee
on the Judiciary until his death on March 6, 1949 ; Senator J. Howard McGrath was a
member of the Committee on the Judiciary until his resignation from the Senate on August
23, 1949 ; Senator Bert H. Miller, of Idaho, was a member of the Committee on the
Judiciary until his death on October 8, 1949.)
CONTENTS
statement or testimony of— Pa„^
Malkin, Maurice, Brooklyn, N. Y ^r-V
Huber, joiiu J __:_ .i::::"::::"" — ^nn tti
Draskovich, Dr. Slobodan M., former professor of economics, UnTver-
sity of Belgrade ^^^
Ti^zecleski, Anthony, former purchasing agent, Gdyn'ia-Amerfca LfnT,
Grzelak, Czeslaw, vice presid"ent, Gdynia -AmeiTca" Line" ine~~III"II 728
Biro, Father Benedict, OFM, presidenf ol UNlTAS^^'r''''!"":":": — IS
Fprip'.-iJf''; ^%''T ^- ^■' ^^*^^"fi^e secretary, Hungan"an"Reform"e"d"
i^ederation of America n.^- no-,
^FederaSon ^^''^^'''° ^' ^'^^^"'^''^ secreta^ryrrmerk^n'ilungan'an ""
Nadanyi, Paul, editor, Amerikailla'gyarsa'gllll s?o
Disabled American Veterans 11111" oqi
^"veteran?!"'''' ^^■' ''''^'''''^^ legislative directo^," Di7abTed"Am;"r[ca"n
idex I_III ^^'^
I
III
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES AMONG ALIENS AND
NATIONAL GKOUPS
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1949
United States Senate,
Special Subcommittee To Investigate
Immigration and Naturalization of the
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington^ D. G.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, at 11 a. m., in room 424,
Senate Office Building, Senator Herbert K. O'Conor presiding.
Present: Senator O'Conor (presiding).
Also present: Messrs. Richard Arens, staff director of the special
subcommittee ; Otto J. Dekom and Frank W. Schroeder, professional
staff members.
Senator O'Conor. The hearing will come to order.
Mr. Arens. Mr. Chairman, I would like to present our witness, Mr.
Malkin.
Senator O'Conor. Will you raise your right hand?
In the presence of Almighty God, do you swear that the testimony
you will give in this hearing will be the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes, sir.^
TESTIMONY OF MAURICE MALKIN, BROOKLYN, N. Y.
Senator O'Conor. For the record, will you give your full name?
Mr. Malkin. My name is Maurice Malkin.
Senator O'Conor. What is your address ?
Mr. Malkin. Brooklyn, N. Y.
Mr. Arens. In order to keep the record straight, may I insert the
statement in the record that this is a continuation of the hearing on
S. 1832 which was introduced by Senator McCarran and is for the
purpose of excluding and deporting subversive aliens.
Senator O'Conor. At the request of the chairman of the committee
I am presiding, and am very pleased to have you submit any state-
ment you desire to submit. The members of the staff of the committee
will then conduct the interrogation.
Mr. Arens. Mr. Malkin, 1 understand you have a prepared state-
ment you would like to read at this time.
Mr. Malkin. Yes, sir. At the beginning of my statement, I would
like to give a short biographical sketch of myself, indicating where
I was born, when I came to the United States, and my former
experience.
^ The witness appeared under subpena.
471
472 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Mr. Arens. Please proceed.
Mr. Malkin. I was born in Minsk, Russia, on November 10, 1900.
In 1914, 1 came to the United States with my parents. Thereafter, I
became associated with the Socialist Party and the Industrial Work-
ers of the World. In 1919, 1 helped organize and was a charter mem-
ber of the Communist Party of the United States. Thereafter, I asso-
ciated myself actively with the Communist Party's activities in this
country until 1936 and the beginning of 1937, when I left the party.
Mr. Arens. By the way, how did you happen to break with the
party ?
Mr. Malkjn. I broke with the party because I disagreed with
Moscow dictating to us what to do in this country. That actually was
the reason.
Mr. Arens. When did you break with the party ?
Mr. Malkin. x\t the end of 1936 and the beginning of 1937.
I believe that the Communist Party presents a real and continuing
threat to our form of government. Since I left the party, I have done
what I can to expose the Communist Party in the United States for
what it is — a revolutionary foreign party whose aim is to destroy our
freedom and democratic institutions by force and violence.
The Communist Party of the United States was organized and has
been led by aliens since its inception in 1919. The alien organiza-
tional efforts are directed through such channels as the foreign-
language groups such as the Russian Federation in the Socialist Party
and the Ukranian, Italian, Jewish, Bulgarian, and other language
federations and groups.
The backbone of the original Communist Party was the Russian
Federation. They were the most active in immediately alining them-
selves with the Lenin-Trotsky Bolshevists of 1917.
The various language federations of the Socialist Party of the
United States were invited to form the Communist Party by Ludwig
A. C. K. Martens, then the unofficial Soviet Ambassador to the United
States. He was deported from the United States in 1920 as persona
lion grata.
Since Martens' deportation, the Communist Party in the United
States has been directed by the Comintern in Moscow. Every move-
ment of the front organization that has been organized since then
has been directed by the Comintern directly through its representa-
tives to the United States or through the Communist Party leaders
who take orders from the Moscow representatives.
One such Communist-front organization is the American Slav Con-
gress, which was conceived and organized by the Comintern. Its
foundation was laid by B. K. Gebert as early as 1930 through the
Polonia Society and other Communist-front organizations which later
merged into the Slav Congress with the Ukranian-American Fraternal
Society, headed by Mike Tkach, charter member of the Communist
Party, one of the officials of the Ukranian Daily News, and a national
committee member of the International Worl^ers Order, representing
the Ukranian Fraternal Society in the IWO.
Mr. Dekom. May I interrupt you with a question ?
You named B. K. Gebert.
Mr, Malkin. That is right.
Mr. Dekom. Do you know where he is now ?
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 473
Mr. Malkin. Yes; he is in Poland at the present time, sir.
Mr. Dekom. Is he an oflicial of the Polish Government?
Mr. Malkin. 3Ir. Gebert at the present time is in charge of all
trade-unions in Poland under Comintern direction.
Mr. Dekom. Was he not a delegate to the World Federation of
Trade Unions in Paris ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Dekom. Would you identify the World Federation of Trade
Unions ?
Mr. Malkin. The World Federation of Trade Unions was con-
ceived, organized, and the foundation laid by the Profintern. In Eng-
lish that means the Red International of Labor Unions, whose head-
quarters have always been at Moscow. They were organized in
1920-21, with the cooperation of the American delegates, one of whom
was William Z. Foster.
Mr. Dekom. Is Mr. Gebert an American citizen ?
Mr. Malkin. Gebert was never an American citizen. He has always
considered himself a citizen of Poland. To my knowledge, he never
even bothered declaring his intention of becoming a citizen.
Mr. Dekom. How long was he in the United States before he
returned to Poland ?
Mr. Malkin. I knew Mr. Gebert from about 1919 to about 1939 or
1940.
Mr. Dekom. Did he go back to Poland on the ship Batory'i
Mr. Malkin. Yes, he did.
Mr. Gebert was a member of the central executive committee of
the American Communist Party since its inception in the United
States.
Mr. Dekom. When was that ?
Mr. Malkin. From 1919 up to the time I left the party, to my
knowledge. I worked with Gebert. He was district organizer in
Chicago when I was organizational secretary under Gebert.
Senator O'Conor. Will you continue, please?
Mr. Malkin. The Russian- American Fraternal Society was headed
by Daniel Kasustchik. This Daniel Kasustchik, to my knowledge,
has been a member of the partj' since 1919. He was one of the leaders
of the original Bolshevik group in the United States. He is at present
one of the leaders of the Slav Congress ; in fact, one of the executive
committee members, together with Mike Tkach and other people whom
I will name. He is also one of the leaders of the International Workers
Order, representing the Russian Fraternal Society.
In 1943, Gebert united a number of the pro-Communist Slav organ-
izations into the organization which is called the American Slav Con*
gress. Leo Krzycki, a leader in Communist front organizations among
the Polish population, was also instrumental in establishing the
American Slav Congress, as was George Pirinsky, who was recently
ordered deported by the Immigration and Naturalization Service for
being a Communist. Pirinsky is free on bail pending an appeal.
The Communist Party is able to mold the opinions and sympathies
of aliens in this country through its fronts, like the one mentioned
above, and through its control of foreign-language papers such as the
Russki Golos, the Russian daily, the Glos Ludowy, a Polish paper,
474 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
and various other foreign language papers published throughout the
country in all foreign languages.
Mr. Arens. You say that the Communist Party is able to wield in-
fluence over the minds of aliens. How extensive is the influence of
communism among the aliens and foreign language groups?
Mr. Malkin. It is quite extensive because the Communists control
quite a few of these alien fraternal and sickness and death benefit
societies, singing choruses, gymnastic societies, and also by publishing
daily, weekly, and monthly organs in foreign languages.
Mr. Arens. How many organizations among foreign language
groups, in your judgment, are controlled by Communists'?
Mr. Malkin. I would say quite a few. I cannot tell you exactly
the number, but they have control in practically every nationality
group : Hungarian, Bulgarian, Rumanian, Finnish, and Jewish; prac-
tically in every foreign-language group.
Mr. Arens. What you mean is that they do have groups within each
of the nationality units, but you don't mean to testify here that they
control all persons of each nationality group ?
Mr. Malkin. In some groups they might control a big faction
of those groups. There would be quite a few of the Communists within
the group who would take control of it and who are the heads of it.
In some of these groups the Communists are not in control, but they
do have quite an influence.
Mr. Arens. I wonder if you could be a little more specific, Mr. Mal-
kin, in telling us the total number of the members of the groups that
are controlled by Communists, so that we would have perhaps a little
better understanding of the extent and scope of Communist control
in foreign language organizations?
Mr. Malkin. For instance, in the Jewish group, the Communists, to
my estimation, control approximately — and by control I mean have
influence over — between 150.000 to 200,000 as a minimum in the United
States. That is done through its control of the International Workers
Order and various Jewish-controlled unions, like the furriers union in
New York and other sections of the needle trades industry throughout
the country.
Mr. Arens. To be just a little more specific still, I would like to pose
a hypothetical situation and then ask you a question about it. Let us
say that there is an organization of 10,000 persons predominantly of
foreign birth. Is it your testimony that the persons in the group are
led by the Communists, or that the organization itself is used by the
Communists for direction and control ? In other words, the Commun-
ists are the rudder of the group; is that what you mean?
Mr. Malkin. That is correct; yes, sir. The Communists actually
are what you would call the leadership of the group, and they wield in-
fluence due to the fact that they form the leadership. I would not say
that the majority of the members are Communists.
Mr. Arens. Your testimony, then — and I am not trying to put words
in your mouth, I am only trying to clarify the concept here — is that a
number of these foreign-language groups are directed and controlled
by the Communists, which does not necessarily mean that all of the
membership of the group is Communist?
Mr. Malkin. That is true, of course.
Mr. Dekom. How do the Communists gain control so easily ?
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 475
Mr. Malkin. The Communists gain control, whether it be a trade-
union or a fraternal organization, by having what they call something
like military discipline and voting in groups and blocks.
For instance, let's take a local union. It might have a membership
of 12,000, but only about 300 of 400 will come to regular meetings.
Now, amongst those 400 there will be, we will say, 100 Communists,
but they vote in a block like a disciplined group. By voting in that
group they are able to wield influence over the others. Not only that,
but the Communists have got into the habit of dragging out the meet-
ings until 12 o'clock or 1 o'clock at night and until such a time that
other members who are not so much interested in the organization,
and who are just card-carrying members, go home, being tired of
having the meeting dragged out. But the Communists remain there
until the last moment and are able to take control by voting in blocks.
]Mr. Arens, How do you distinguish between a foreign-language
group composed largely of foreign-born persons and other groups,
from the standpoint of susceptibility to Communist control and dom-
ination? I noticed, if I may make an observation, that you have
testified to the effect that Communists are particularly active and par-
ticularly powerful among foreign-language groups.
Mr. Malkin. Yes, sir.
Mr. Arens. How do you account for that ? What is your analysis
of that situation ?
Mr. Malkin. My analysis of that is that an American group, not
a foreign-language-speaking group, is able to read the American
press, the American literature, the American history, and is able to
mold its opinion more toward the American-history side. They are
able to read both sides of the question. They will read the Soviet
side of the question and they will read the American side of the ques-
tion. They will be convinced more by the American part of the
question than they will be by the foreign-language part of the question.
Mr. Arens. Do you have information, Mr. Malkin, respecting the
number of foreign-language publications in the United States which
are or were in the past under Communist control and domination?
Mr. Malkin. I have not, but I could get it.
Mr. Arens. Will you be kind enough, Mr. Malkin, when you return
to your office or your home, to assemble that information in memo-
randum form and submit it to the subcommittee ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes ; I will.
Mr. Arens. Will you accompany that with a statement that these
papers are, in your judgment, on the basis of your background and
experience, Communist controlled and dominated ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
(The material is as follows :)
Foreign Language Press
The following is a partial list of the Commvinist publications amongst the
foreign language press in the United States :
I'auvor : An Armenian weekly.
Radnicki Glasnik : A Croatian language daily located at 1629 Blue Island
Avenue, Chicago, 111.
Saznanie (Knowledge) : Bulgarian language weekly. OflScial Communist Party
publication.
Schodeni Visti : Ukranian Daily News. Official Communist Party organ. New
York City.
476 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Russki Golos (Russian Voice) : Russian daily under Communist Party in-
fluence.
Narodni Glasnik : Croatian weekly. Published by Communist Party.
Novy Mir : Official weekly of the Russian section of the American Communist
Party. Official publication of the International Workers Order. Published in
New York City.
New York Tyd : Finnish language paper under Communist domination.
Uus Urn (The New World) : Esthonian language weekly.
Laisve : A Lithuanian daily. Published at 46 Ten Eyck Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Official party publication in the Lithuanian language.
Ludovny Dennik : Slovak daily published at 1510 West Eighteenth Street,
Chicago, ill.
Rovnost Ludu : Slovak daily published at 1510 West Eighteenth Street, Chi-
cago, 111.
Pravda Weekly.
L'Unita Del Popolo : Italian. Published in New York City.
Naileben : Published in New York City by the Communist Soviet front "The
Icor."
Vida Obrera (Workers Life) : Semimonthly. Communist initiated and con-
trolled.
Vanguarda : A Portuguese Communist Party paper.
Vienybe : A Lithuanian triweekly. Communist initiated and controlled.
Toveri (Comrade) : E'innish Communist Party section weekly.
Tyolaisnainen (The Working Woman) : Finnish weekly. Communist initiated
and controlled.
Tyomis (The Worker) : Finnish Communist Party daily.
Obrana : Communist controlled Czech weekly published at 3624 West Twenty-
sixth Street, Chicago, 111.
Desteptarea : Rumanian weekly. Published at 6527 Russell Street, Detroit,
Mich.
Greek American Tribune : Published in Ne\v York City.
Eteenpain : Official organ of the Finnish Federation of the Communist Party
of the United States of America. Published at 50 East Thirteenth Street, New
York City. Communist headquarters.
Fraternal Outlook : Published by the International Workers Order at 80 Fifth
Avenue, New York City.
Morning Freiheit: Jewish Communist daily. Published at 50 East Thirteenth
Street, New York City.
Deutsche Amerikaner (German American) : Published at 50 East Thirteenth
Street, New York City.
Glos Ludowy : Polish daily. Official Communist Party publication.
The Communist Party has either under its full control or influence between
200 and 250 foreign-language periodicals in daily, weekly, and monthly publi-
cations throughout the United States. These also include trade-union publica-
tions and fraternal foreign-language publications, etc.
Senator O'Conor. Mr. Malkin, did your work, while you were an
active member of the party, bring you in direct contact with this
method of operation?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Senator O'Conor. As a member of the party, did you have direct
contact along the lines indicated by the last questions which have been
propounded to you?
Mr. Malkin. Yes. As an organizer, and as a member of the party,
I used to have direct contact with these papers, for this reason, I will
give you an illustration :
If I am an organizer of a certain territory and a Communist paper
is within my territory, I would be in full charge of that paper. I
would give orders to the others, tlie editor of that paper, as to what
to publish and as to what they should not publish.
Mr. Dekom. Could you name some of those papers ?
Mr. Malkin. The Ukranian Daily News.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 477
Mr. Dekom, The editor is Mike Tkach ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
There used to be a paper called the Novy Mir, a Eussian paper. The
Russki Golos was not controlled by the Communist Party at that
time, but its sympathies have always been toward the Soviet Union.
Mr. Dekom. Are you familiar with the Croatian newspaper,
Narodni Glasnik, published in Pittsburgh ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes. It is edited by an old friend of mine by the
name of Toni Minerich.
Mr. Dekom. I wonder if you would enlarge on the matter of this
editor of the newspaper Narodni Glasnik?
Senator O'Conor. Will you just give us some detail, please?
Mr. JMalkin. Toni Minerich has been a member of the party, to my
knowledge from personal contact with him, since 1925, He was origi-
nally a coal miner .
Senator O'Conor. Is he an American citizen ?
Mr. Malkin. I recall that he was naturalized in 1927 in the Penn-
sylvania district. I have known Toni Minerich for years as a party
member. I worked with him in the party and also with his coworker
Borich.
Mr. Dekom. Is that Frank Borich ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Dekom. Is he now under deportation order?
Mr. Malkin. Yes, that is right.
Mr. Dekom. Do you know whether or not Toni Minerich was an
official of the Young Communist League?
Mr. JVLilLkin. Yes, a member of the National Executive Committee.
Mr. Dekom. And an organizer?
Mr. Malkin. Yes, that is right.
Mr. Dekom. Do you know whether or not he has ever been in prison ?
Mr. Malkin. He was arrested, I think, in Pittsburgh or in Phila-
delphia for disorderly conduct, having a meeting without a permit,,
or something of that kind.
iSIr. Dekom. Was he active in the organization of the American
Slav Congress ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Dekom. Was he one of the original organizers ?
Mr. Malkin. He was one of those ; yes. He was from the Croatian
division.
Mr. Dekom. There are a number of newspapers published in De-
troit at 5856 Chene Street, including Glos Ludowy, which you have
identified as a Communist paper. Can you state whether theNarodna
Volya published there is a Communist paper, too?
Mr. Malkin. The Narodna Volya is the original Russian name of
the terrorist group that Lenin's brother ^ was hanged for his partici-
pation in the assassination of Czar Alexander in 1880. Narodna Volya
was also the name of their paper. That is Pirinslry's paper.
Mr. Dekom. Is it a Bulgarian paper ?
Mr. Malkin. It is a Bulgarian paper.
Senator O'Conor. Will you continue with explaining the details
of your credentials ?
1 Alexander Lenin (Ulianov).
478 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Mr. Malkin. During my activity in the party, I used to come in
contact with a lot of these newspapers. There used to be a paper
called the Uj Elore of which Peters was in charge of at one time.
Senator O'Conor. We have heard a lot about him.
Mr. Dekom. Could you identify him further ?
Mr. Malkin. I testified in Peters' deportation hearing and identi-
fied him in New York.
Mr. Dekom. You identified him as what ?
Mr. Malkin. J. Peters was born in Hungary. He was active in
the Hungarian revolution in 1919.
Mr. Dekom. That was the Communist revolution ?
Mr. Malkin. That is right ; under Bela Kun.
He came to the United States with another person called Emil
Gardos. He started to work, and I met him for the first time in
1923 or 1924. He was later in charge of all of the underground ap-
paratus of the organization, the hush-hush organization of the party,
and the espionage that the party did for the Soviet Union in this
country. He collaborated with the Central Control Commission and
the resident GPU agents in this country, some of whom I will name
later in my statement. They were later known as NKVD.
The foreign-language newspapers published on behalf of the Com-
munist Party are governed by a policy laid down in the first section
of conditions for admission to the Communist International, which
were adopted by the Second World Congress of the Communist Inter-
national in Moscow in 1920. That first section provides as follows:
Section 1. The general propaganda and agitation should bear a real Com-
munist character and should correspond to the program and decisions of the
Third International. The entire party press should be edited by reliable Com-
munists who have proved their loyalty to the cause of the proletarian revolution.
The dictatorship of the proletariat should not be spoken of simply as a current
hackneyed formula, it should be advocated in such a way that its necessity should
be apparent to every rank-and-file working-man and workingwoman, to each
soldier and peasant, and should emanate from everyday facts systematically
recorded by our press day by day.
All periodicals and other publications, as well as all party publications and
editions, are subject to the control of the presidium of the party, independently
of whether the party is legal or illegal. It should in no way be permitted that
the publishers abuse their autonomy and carry on a policy not fully corresponding
to the policy of the party.
Wherever the followers of the Third International have access, and whatever
means of propaganda are at their disposal, whether the columns of newspapers,
labor meetings, or cooperatives, it is indispensable for them not only to denounce
the bourgeoisie but also its assistants and agents, reformists of every color and
shape.
In order that the above rules and conditions be carried out, the Com-
munist International has always maintained representatives in the
United States, some of whom enter the country illegally and on false
passports.
The following agents have been here under the conditions and dur-
ing the stated period for the purpose mentioned above and to keep
the aliens in line with Moscow's political and diplomatic moves,
whether on a Soviet national scale, or whether on its international
diplomatic fronts :
The first agent I want to mention here is Ludwig A. C. K. Martens.
He was here from 1918 to 1920. He was the unofficial Soviet Am-
bassador to the United States, and the original organizer of the Com-
COAIMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 479
munist Party in the United States. He performed the wedding of
the American party with the Communist International.
Another agent who was here was a person by the name of Valetzky.
He was here in 1922.
The third agent was John Pepper, alias Schwartz, alias Joseph
Pogany. He was one of the leaders of the Hungarian revolution in
1919, and was sent here in 1923 as a Comintern representative to the
American party.
Pepper came back in 1928 and 1929, until he was expelled and re-
called by Moscow, because he had alined himself with the Bukharin
faction in Russia against Stalin.
Another one is P. Green. He called himself P. Green, but his real
name is Gussev. He was here in 1925 and in 1926.
Another one who was here was a man by the name of Ewart. He
went under the name of Brown. He was a member of the Communist
Party of Germany, and was sent here by the Comintern in 1926 and
1927.
Another agent who was here was one by the name of Jenks. He was
here in 1931 as a representative of the Comintern.
After him came a person by the name of F. Brown, that is, he
called himself Brown, but his real name was Alpi.
Morigni was here from 1931 to 1939. He left this country after
my testimony before the Un-American Activities Committee naming
him as one of the Soviet agents.
Mr. Arens. Is your testimony with respect to chese agents you say
have been sent into the country at various times based upon your
experience, observation, knowledge, and experience?
Mr. Malkin. Yes, sir.
Mr. Arens. That is as a former Communist Party official ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes, sir.
The next representative to the United States was a person by the
name of Harry Pollitt, a member of the executive committee of the
British Communist Party. He was here from 1933 to 1934, helping
to direct the San Francisco general strike with Harry Bridges.
To help him in this work was Mrs. Kuusinen. She is the wife of
Kuusinen ^ who was named Premier of Finland during the Finnish-
Eussian AVar of 1910-41, by the Comintern. She is one of the leaders
of the Communist Party in Finland now.
In 1938 and 1939 there was another representative here b}' the name
of Dengal.
The Young Communist International also sent its representative to
the United States to direct the Young Communist League. That is
the youth organization of the Communist Party.
Amongst those here during diiferent periods was one by the name
of Rust, and another one who called himself by the name of Bob.
Most of the people whom I have named came here under fictitious
or false passports.
Mr. Arens. How did they get those fictitious or false passports ?
Mr. Malkin. To my knowledge, although I was never there — 1
found this out while being in the party through various channels in
the party — the passports were made from original American pass-
^ otto Kuusinen.
480 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
ports, or from passports of Americans who came to the Lenin School,
and from other sources which I will enumerate in my statement.
Mr. Dekom. I notice that all of the Comintern representatives are
aliens. Is it customary to send aliens to run the American Commu-
nist Party ?
Mr. Malkin. That is right. They will never send an American be-
cause an American might work with the other fellows and not carry
out the wishes of the Comintern,
There was another representative wlio came here in 1938 to the
World Youth Congress from France. I named him l)efore the Un-
American Activities Committee and Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt prac-
tically called me a liar. He is one whom the French Communist
Paity was tickled to death to get rid of. He was a friend of Ercoli,
alias Togliatti/ the leader of the Italian party. His name is Prof.
Ambrosio Donini. In 1946 and 1947, during the Italian elections, the
Di Gasperi government recalled Professor Donini from his position
as Ambassador to one of the European countries because of his
membership in the Communist Party.
This same Donini was CI Rep and came as a delegate to the World
Youth Congress which was then held at Schenectady.
Since its inception in the United States, the United States party
has been one of the main sources of espionage for the Soviet Govern-
ment through the information that the membership gathers in in-
dustrial units, armament factories, naval shipyards, et cetera.
Besides having the regular party members gather that information,
the Soviet Government established regular espionage apparatus
through the Soviet Embassy, the Amtorg, trading agencies, purchasing
missions, and the United Nations.
The following are but a few of the agents who have been here anil
who have done tlieir work loyally for the Soviet Government :
Alexander Karen was one of the resident GPU agents in the United
States who was here from 1928 up to 1983.
Valentin ISIarkin was here from 1933 to 1938, and was a regular
resident GPU agent in the United States. He was killed in New York
mysteriously. No one ever found out how he was killed. They found
him dead ; that is all.
Colonel Bykov was here from 1938 to 1940. Through information
that I have received, which I have checked, he was one of those who
were instrumental, in my opinion, in killing General Krivitsky.
Mr. Arens. What first-hand information do you have on that?
Mr. Malkin. I don't know whether the information is first-hand or
second-hand but I have checked and double-checked with quite a few
of my former comrades and other people.
Colonel Bykov was actually in charge of the GPU during that
period and he was actually the type to do the job. He was a hatchet
man. He was actually the type to do the job if no one else could do it.
Another GPU chief in the United States was Boris Shpak.
At the present time Moscow and the Communist Party in the United
States are concentrating a great deal on the United Nations.
Senator O'Conor. Now, upon what do you base that statement ?
Mr. Malkin. I base that statement on the foreign policy of the
Soviet Union, on the policy of the party, on the language of the Daily
1 Palmiro TogllattL
COMIVIUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 481
Worker, the language in the party press, and on the activities of the
party.
Senator O'Conor. Have you been keeping in touch with those ac-
tivities ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
That is clone, for example, by placing people on the United Na-
tions staff such as General Victor Yakhontoff, who has supported the
Communist front through the Friends of the Soviet Union. I think
that organization is out of existence now. In the early thirties he used
to speak at their meetings.
He was always a member of dozens of Communist front organiza-
tions. Every time the Soviet Union wanted to put up some kind of a
front for the defense of the Soviet Union, or for the defense of their
mock trials that they were carrying on in 1936 and 1937, one of those
used to put up the front was General Yakhontoff. He claimed he was
a former Russian general in the Czar's army.
Mr. Arens. What is Yakhontoff's official status in the United
Nations ?
Mr. Malkin. He is employed by them.
Mr. Arens. But you don't know in v,diat capacity ?
Mr. Malkin. I don't.
I used to see General Yakhontoff going in and out of the Communist
Party headquarters. I cannot place him as a member of the party, but
to go in and out of the Communist Party headquarters you have to be
a party member in order to get into the inner sanctum. Otherwise,
you can never enter.
Mr. Dekom. I have here a copy of the new telephone directory of
the United Nations dated February 1, 1949. On page 90, I show you
a name. Is that the name of the man you have been referring to ?
Mr. Malkin. That is the same one. Gen. Victor A. Yakhontoff.
Mr. Dekom. This indicates that he is in the translating division.
Mr. Arens. Can you tell me what he does from the standpoint of
Communist work?
Mr. Malkin. He used to be put up as a speaking front, or as a
writing front, for all Communist apologetic organizations to the
Soviet Union.
Mr. Arens. You say he used to do that. Do you know what he
has been doing during the course of recent months ?
Mr. Malkin. I haven't seen his name on any Communist fronts
lately, but during the war he was active in the American-Soviet Friend-
ship Society and on every other Soviet front that there was.
Mr. Dekom. Was he connected with the American Slav Congress?
Mr. ISIalkin. That is right.
Mr. Dekom. Was he one of the writers for New Masses, a con-
tributor to New Masses?
Mr. Malkin. He was a contributor to New Masses. He also con-
tributed to Soviet Russia Today.
Mr. Dekom. Would you identify New Masses ?
Mr. Malkin. New Masses was a monthly magazine published by
the Communists for the intelligentsia, for what they called the "Ameri-
can intelligentsia." I would call them students, writers, artists, and
so on.
Mr. Dekom. Was it an official publication of the party ?
482 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Mr. Malkin. It was organized, controlled, managed, and everything
else by the party.
Mr. Dekom. Was he ever a speaker before the International Workers
Order?
Mr. Malkin. Yes, General Yakhontoff spoke before that groun.
Mr. Dekom. Is that an organization listed by the Attorney General
as a subversive organization ?
Mr. Malkin. It is not only listed as such, but it was organized by
the Communist Party in 1929.
Mr. Dekom, Do you know whether or not he was a lecturer or a
speaker at the Jefferson School of Social Science.
Mr. Malkin. Yes, that is right.
Mr. Dekom. Can you identify that school ?
Mr, Malkin. Jefferson School is a continuation of the Workers'
School, whose lecturers, managers, textbooks, and everything else, are
controlled by the party.
Mr. Dekom. Was he connected in any way with the Mother Bloor
Celebration Committee?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr, Dekom. Would you identify Mother Bloor?
Mr. Malkin. Motlier Bloor is what they call "the mother of the
American revolution," That is what they consider her. She has been
a charter member of the American Communist Party, and she has
been active in trade-unions way before the Communist Party was
active. She is a woman of about 87 years old, formerly the wife of
Browder, and formerly the wife of a couple more I can't remember.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Do you mean Earl Browder?
Mr. Malkin. Yes, the unofficial wife, of course.
Mr. Arens. Will you kindly continue, Mr. Malkin.
Mr. Malkin. Another partner of General Yakhontoff in the United
Nations is Millard Lampell who, to my knowledge, is at present em-
ployed as a script writer, I think, for the United Nations.
Mr. Dekom, Mr. Chairman, I would like to submit in evidence a
clipping from the New York Times stating Millard Lampell's con-
nection with the Radio Division of the United Nations.
Senator O'Conor. The clipping will be received in evidence.
(The clipping referred to is as follows:)
[From the New York Times, August 10, 1949]
RADIO, VIDEO
A series of six documentary radio programs designed to show the need of world
reliance upon the United Nations for peace, welfare, and security will be broad-
cast in weekly Sunday installments by the National Broadcasting Co., starting
September 11. The programs, presented in cooperation with United Nations
Jiadio. will be supervised by Norman Corwin, head of special projects for the
UN's Radio Division.
In addition to supervising the series, Mr. Corwin will write, direct and produce
tlie initial program entitled "Could Be," which will be aired on the tenth anni-
versary of the Nazi attack on Poland. This full-hour broadcast will strive to
show what could happen if all nations got together to solve the problem of
maintaining peace.
Tiie first two programs will be 1 hour long and the others a half hour. The time
for each broadcast will be announced later.
Others in the series will deal with the function of the United Nations in its
ol'jective of keeping peace, a tour behind the scenes of UN activities, an illus-
tration of the achievements of the Economic Commission for Europe, a treatment
on genocide and the story of the International Refugee Organization,
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 483
Radio writing and producing talent from tliis country, Great Britain, and
Canada will be called upon for the scripts. The list includes Millard Lanipell,
writer of October Morning; Allen Sloane, a writer recently returned trom Europe
after working out of IRO headquarters in Geneva; W. Gibson-Parker, formerly
of the British Broadcasting Corp., and now production chief for United Nations
Radio; Jerome Lawrence, and Robert E. Lee. a radio writing-directing-producing
team ; Gerald Kean, supervisor of the English Language Section of the UN's
Radio Division; and Leu I'eterson and Andrew Allen of the Canadian Broadcast-
ing Corp.
Mr. Malkin. Mr. Lampell, to my knowledge, has been on a dozen
Communist fronts. He has been connected quite a few times with
the Hollywood group that has been indicted, I think, for contempt of
Congress. He has been on many Communist fronts, to my knowledge.
Even as late as September 1 of this year, liis name appeared in the
Daily Worker as one of the speakers, together with Howard Fast, who
admitted then being a member of the Communist Party, at the Jeffer-
son School. Mr. Lampell is listed as active in a protest being spon-
sored by the Council of Arts, Sciences, and Professions.
Mr. Dekom. Is that a Communist-front organization ?
Mr. Malkin. That is a Communist front — organized, led, and con-
trolled by the Communist Party.
Mr. Dekom. Has Millard Lampell ever been a contributor to the
New Masses?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Dekom. Has he been connected with the Progressive Citizens of
America, to your knowledge?
Mr. Malkin. I cannot name the Progressive Citizens of America
as being all Communists. Some of them are just plain fools, that is,
most of them, and the ones that control the organizations are Com-
munists.
Mr. Dekom. Has he been connected with the Civil Eights Congress?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Dekom. Is that a Communist front?
Mr. Malkin. That is a Communist front controlled by the party
through people such as our friend Paul Robeson and others.
Mr. Dekom. Has he been a contributor, to your knowledge, to the
magazine Mainstream?
Mr. Malkin. Mainstream is a continuation of the old Masses.
Masses and Mainstream it is called.
Mr. Dekom. Is he a contributor?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Dekom. Has Millard Lampell, to your knowledge been con-
nected with the New York Committee to "Win the Peace?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Dekom. Can you identify that organization ?
Mr. Malkin. That was a New York committee organized after the
war to combat the Marshall plan and to fight every other suggestion
or proposal that the President or the United States Congress would
make against the iron curtain countries, any of the countries controlled
by the Soviet Union.
Mr. Dekom. Was he a speaker at the Win-the-Peace Conference in
Washington, which w^as organized by the Communist Party?
Mr. Malkin. That is right.
98330— 50— pt. 2 2
484 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Senator O'Conor. With further reference to the activities of Mil-
lard Lampell, were they notorious and pretty generally known, or
were they all secret and clandestine ?
Mr. Malkin. Sometimes they were carried out in secret, but the
information would leak out at conferences.
Senator O'Conor. What I have reference to, and what I think may
be of particular interest, is whether or not there was sufficient knowl-
edge of the activities of Millard Lampell so that those in charge of
appointments at the United Nations would be wary of him.
Mr. Malkin. There is quite a group around New York that could
give you more information on that, based on their personal knowledge
of him.
Senator O'Conor. Have you previously testified concerning him?
Mr. Malkin. No.
Senator O'Conor. Did you testify concerning him before the Un-
American Activities Committee ?
Mr. Malkin. I testified before the Un-American Activities Com-
mittee in 1939.
Mr. Dekom. May we submit for the record the public record of
Millard Lampell's connection with some 30 Communist-front organi-
zations reported in public sources ?
Senator O'Conor. Yes; that will be introduced and marked.
(The documents referred to are included in apjiendix V, p. A80.)
Senator O'Conor. Will you proceed, Mr. Malkin ?
Mr. Malkin. To continue, we have the agents of this international
organization carrying out a policy of world revolution and chaos.
Now, we come to the question of citizenship and its misuse.
It has always been the Communist Party line in the United States
to misuse American citizenship and its certificates. Since it has been
so easy to become an American citizen, it has been the party line
and policy to get the members to become American citizens in order
to enable the Communists to run for political office and to participate
in election campaigns, and to try to elect its representatives to political
offices so as to utilize the election of its representatives and their posi-
tions in advocating the overthrow of our Government by force and
violence with the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat
in the United States.
The other use of American citizenship is to enable them to go from
Moscow to other parts of the world on American passports to carry
out the Kremlin's line without being molested by foreign governments.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Mr. Malkin, you made a statement a moment ago
with reference to the overthrow of our Government by force and
violence. Have you ever heard that statement made at any party
meetings that you have attended ?
Mr. Malkin. That has not only been stated at meetings, but it is
a statement contained in the literature from the time of the inception
of the party throughout my existence in the party. In 1920, when
the party had been organized, the party issued a paper called the
Revolutionary Age. I remember that James Larkin, an Irishman
who was deported from the United States back to Ireland in 1923, and
Harry Winitsky, who edited the paper, were prosecuted on a charge
of criminal anarchy for coming out with the statement :
We Communists do not believe in ballots; we believe in bullets.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 485
Those are exactly the words that were used.
Throughout the party's existence and my existence in the party,
there was never any doubt in the minds of the leadership and in our
minds, and in the minds of the rank and file that was theoretically
developed in the party, that the party never will accomplish its aims ;
that is, the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat in the
United States by peaceful means.
We always taught in the schools of the party, and we were taught
that the controlling interests of the United States, or of any demo-
cratic country, what the Communists call the bourgeois countries, will
never give up their power peacefully. Therefore, it is up to the Com-
munists to take control at an opportune moment such as an economic
or political crisis in the United States. That would be done through
arming what they called their party members, their sympathizers,
and what they call the proletariat in the United States, by capturing
arsenals, and by agitation in the National Guard and the armed forces
in an effort to get those soldiers or sailors within the armed forces to
come to their side, and through those means to overthrow the demo-
cratic form of government of the United States and establish the
Soviet Government.
Birth certificates and American citizenship certificates have been
used to send American party members to the Lenin school and other
sabotage schools to train for leadership in the methods of sabotage and
propaganda in the United States. Citizenship papers have been used
for the above-named purposes, as well as for the forging of passports
for Moscow agents to enter the United States without detection. That
has been going on since the party's inception in 1919.
Mr. Aeens. Now, may I just ask you at this point, first of all, how
extensive this practice has been, to your experience ?
Mr. Malkix. It has been quite extensive. In fact, the party could
have sent hundreds of agents to Moscow on American papers. For
instance, in the case of people who are dead, they take that certificate
and go and get a passport. Somebody else gets it. I mean a passport
to leave the United States to go to Russia.
Mr. Arens. How about the entrance to the United States?
Mr. Malkin. In the case of an entrance to the United States, you
could take an American passport that has already been used by" an
American student who is there. They would use his passport, or
make a copy of it in a building called the Omsk in Moscow, where they
forge all kinds of foreign passports, counterfeit money, and everything
else.
Mr. Arens. Do they forge visas^
Mr. Malkin. They forge visas and passports.
Mr. Arens. How extensive has been the entrance into this country
of agents on fraudulent papers ?
Mr. Malkix. It has been quite extensive.
Mr. Arens. How extensive is it at this time, to your knowledge?
Mr. Malkin. At the present time, to my knowledge, they are a little
more careful, because the Soviet Government knows, and also the
party knows that its existence in the United States is legally en-
dangered, that they are on their hind legs.
Mr. Arens. What do you mean by that?
486 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Mr. Malkin. That the party is liable to be driven underground.
This is what they fear most and what they are seeking to avoid. If
Congress passes a bill outlawing the Communist Party, it will set up
machinery to neutralize the influence of the party among the pseudo-
liberals and wealthy stooges in this country from which the Communist
Party derives much of its support.
They are scared.
Mr. Arens. Are they at this time still sending agents?
Mr. Malkin. They do, but not to the extent that they used to.
Mr. Akens. Are they still sending them here in the same manner
you have described previously ?
Mr. Malkin. That is right.
Mr. Arens. By false and fraudulent documents ?
Mr. Malkin. That is correct. The fact is — I do not know exactly
the names of the people, I am trying to check on that — that there are
three representatives here in the United States now from Moscow.
Mr. Arens. What do you mean by three representatives from Mos-
cow?
Mr. Malkin. From the Comintern. They are not GPU agents,
but agents of the Comintern.
Mr. Arens. Who are those men ?
Mr. Malkin. That is what I am trying to find out.
Mr. Arens. How do you know that they are here ?
Mr. Malkin. I was told that through information I received from
the party.
Mr. Arens. Did they indicate what status they have here from the
standpoint of our immigration laws ?
Mr. Malkin. They are called the CI Commission.
Mr. Arens. What do you mean by CI Commission? _
Mr. Malkin. The Communist International Commission.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Is it unusual to send a commission ?
Mr. Malkin. Well, it has been done before.
Mr. Dekom. Is that a trouble-shooting unit?
Mr. Malkin. That is right.
They are actually in charge of, if necessary, reorganizing the party,
giving orders to the party, and everything else. Leaders, like Wil-
liam Z. Foster, Earl Browder, and Eugene Dennis have never had
much to say about the American party anyway.
Mr. Arens. As to these three top men of whom you say you have
information are here, what is their immigi'ation status? Are they
affiliates of embassies, affiliates of some purchasing commission, or
what are they here as ?
Mr. Malkin. I would doubt very much whether they are affiliates
of any purchasing commission or any diplomatic group. They are
here just as agents who came here illegally, and they give the orders.
Mr. Arens. How did they get here?
Mr. Malkin. They usually come here on different passports, not
their own, because the Soviet passport authorities know that the
American Government will have a check on them and keep an eye
on them, so they come in under other false passports.
Mr. Arens. During your experience as a member of the party, did
you have occasion to arrive at a conclusion as to the extent to which
the officials of foreign governments and affiliates of international or-
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 487
ganizations participate in the Communist apparatus in the United
States?
Mr. Malkin. They would not do so openly, because, to my knowl-
edge, no Avorker in the Soviet Embassy, or any of the purchasing com-
missions or trading organizations, or any so-called legal group that
might come here from the Soviet Union, representing the Soviet Gov-
ernment, are allowed to participate openly in the activities of the
Communist Party.
To my former knowledge, and to my knowledge at the present time,
the way things work is that the Soviet Government might have its
agent here, and he might act as a janitor at the Embassy, for example,
but still give orders to the Ambassador.
Mr. Arens. To what extent is the Communist apparatus in the
United States directed through the consulates and the embassies?
Mr. Malkin. Directly they never do. because that is what they have
the control commission and party for. The central control commission
of the Communist Party is actually the group in the party that is
the top layer of the party. They are over the Politburo and every-
thing else. That is the discipline and control group that controls
finances and that disciplines the behavior of every party member.
That group sees to it that the party carries out the Moscow line.
Their function is to first gather information that is collected by the
organization apart from the party. Let's say, for instance, that the
Brooklyn Navy Yard will have a party unit which is called a nucleus.
That party unit, when they get together, will furnish information on
the caliber of guns and what they are doing in the navy yard. At
this unit meeting there will be present a representative of the district
organization. He gathers that information and sends it to the
organization department.
The organization department sends it to the control commission,
and the control commission transmits it by cable to Moscow, or, if
necessary, gives it to one of the couriers through the Communist Inter-
national representative here. Sometimes they give it to the resident
GPU agent, who transmits it to Moscow.
Mr. Arens. Do you know any resident GPU agents who are pres-
ently in the United States?
Mr. Malkin. No; not at present.
Mr. Arens. What is the source of your information about these
three top men from Moscow who you say are here to direct and control
the Communist apparatus?
Mr. Malkin. My information is that just a few weeks ago there
was a meeting of the top layer of the party.
Mr. Arens. Where?
Mr. Malkin. At Beacon.
Mr. Arens. In what State is that?
Mr. Malkin. That is at Beacon, N. Y.
Mr. Arens. Where was that meeting held ?
Mr. Malkin. That meeting was held at a farmhouse. One of the
party members present gave me the information as to what was going
on at the meeting. Present at that meeting was the whole group of
the 11 persons being tried there now, as well as Elizabeth Gurley
Flynn, Alexander Bittleman, and another group.
488 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
The information that I received was that there were three strangers
there. They didn't look like Americans. They kept quiet except for
one who delivered the line of the discussion, actually to the orders.
No names were mentioned, and up to the present time he doesn't know
the names of those people.
Mr. Arens. Is my understanding correct that the men who are
presently on trial in New York City as Communists were in attend-
ance at this session ?
Mr. Malkin. That is right. That is not unusual. It always has
been that way. That was what they call an enlarged plenum of the
Politburo.
Mr. Arens. When was this session ?
Mr. Malkin. Just a few weeks ago up at Beacon.
Mr. Arens. And your informant was a man who was in attendance
at that session ?
Mr. Malkin. He is a party member; yes.
Mr. Akens. Does he know that you have broken with the party ?
Mr. Malkin. He knows. I meet with him once in a while so that
no one sees us.
Mr. Arens. What is your vocation and occupation ?
Mr. Malkin. I am a machinist, but for the past year I have been,
on and off, employed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service
as an expert witness in deportation hearings.
Mr. Arens. Have you other contacts with present agents of the
Communist Party who are in the United States other than the man
you have talked to ?
Mr. Malkin. I have with one or two other party members who
are in the party, but who are not in the top layer.
Mr. Arens. But the man that you talked to who attended this
meeting was in the top layer ?
Mr. Malkin. He is one of the top layer of the party.
Mr. Arens. Wlio attended that meeting ? Can you clear the record ?
Mr. Malkin. According to my information, there were present
Jack Stachel, John Williamson, Alexander Bittelman, Eugene Dennis,
Gil Green, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Margaret Krumbein, and quite
a few others.
jMr. Arens. What transpired at that meeting, to your knowledge ?
Mr. Malkin. They were mainly discussing the line of the party
at the present time and how to pursue the Foley Square trial.
Mr. Arens. You mean how to proceed at the trial ?
Mr. ]Malkin. The policy at the trial. It was decided up there that,
instead of using as witnesses for the defense aliens or those who have
been naturalized, that they would use strictly American-born persons
as witnesses for the defense, so that they should not be deportable and
should not have to go through denaturalization procedures.
Mr. Arens. What else was decided there or discussed there ?
Mr. Malkin. That is exactly what he told me.
Mr. Arens. What else was decided there, or discussed there?
Mr. Malkin. Mainly th:it question was discusbed and the question
of the drive for the defense; that is, how to proceed with the drive
for $450,000.
Mr. Dekom. Do you have any reason to believe that the commission
was appointed because of the trial of the Politburo of the Communist
Party here ?
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROLTPS 489
Mr. Malkin. In my opinion, this commission was sent here because
the party in the United States finds itself in danger of being liqui-
dated ; that is, of going underground.
That question of going underground is quite an important question
to the Communist International. Quite a lot of people in govern-
ment may disagree with me on my idea of underground. They feel
that going underground will just drive the agents underground so
their identity will not be known. Our experience has been different
in 1919 and in 1920. The policy of underground is very, very im-
portant to the Communist International.
Mr. Arens. Is it more difficult for the party to function under-
ground than it is in the open ?
Mr. Malkin. Of course. It stifles the party ; it kills the party. In
1919 when we split from the Socialist Party, there were 87,000 of us
split from the Socialist Party. After being underground for l^^
years, the party dwindled to 3,500, because they were not able to carry
on open press agitation, open propaganda, open schooling, and every-
thing else. That killed the party.
It was necessary for Lenin to send a letter to the American party
telling them that if they did not get out of the underground the party
would be stifled to death.
Mr. Areists. Now, tell me about this defense fund you mentioned u
few moments ago, for the alleged Communists on trial in New York
City. I understood you to say there was a fund being raised.
Mr. Malkin. That is right. There was discussion of the procedure
of raising the $450,000 defense fund, because it takes quite a lot of
money to defend these 11 persons with all of the lawyers, staff, and
everything else. The amount was laid down by the CI rep who spoke.
Mr, Arens. What do you mean by the CI rep ?
Mr. Malkin. Communist International representative.
Mr. Dekom. Is he the real boss of the American Communist Party ?
Mr. jMalkin. Yes.
Mr. Dekom. And has he always, to' your knowledge, been an alien
sent here by Moscow to direct the party ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Arens. Did your informant meet the man who was the boss ?
Mr. Malkin. He was present at the meeting, but everyone had to
remain seated until after tliey left. No one was allowed to write any-
thing down or to make any notes, or anything else. That is the usual
procedure in an underground party.
Mr. Arens. Did your informant describe the appearance of his
bosses ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes ; he told me.
Mr. Arens. What did he say they looked like ?
Mr. Malkin. He said one looked like a German, and the other two
looked like Finns.
Mr. Arens. Did he describe the accent they used ?
Mr. Malktn. He mentioned a German, Kussian, and English accent,
you know, comrades, and all that stuff, in German guttural sound.
Mr. Arens. Did he describe the physical appearance of these men?
Mr. Malkin. One was quite heavy. One of the fellows who was
sitting must have weighed some two-hundred-and-some-odd pounds.
490 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
He was short and chubby, blond, with blue eyes. He had a scar on his
forehead, on the left side of his forehead.
Mr. Arens. Over his left eye ?
Mr. Malkin. I don't know whether it was over his left eye. I know
he had a scar on his forehead.
Mr. Arens. Did he describe either of the other two to you ?
Mr. Malkin. No. He said that he didn't remember their descrip-
tion because they were there just for about a half hour and they had to
leave, and no one was allowed to leave until they had left.
Mr. Arens. How many persons were in attendance at the meeting in
total?
Mr. Malkin. About 15 to 18 people,
Mr. Arens. And it was conducted in a farmhouse ?
Mr. Malkin. That is right.
Mr. Arens. Did he indicate the location of the farmhouse?
Mr. Malkin. He said they were taken there by car and that right
near, he knows, is Beacon. It was in Beacon, so it must have been
right near the Communist camp. The party has had a camp there
for years.
Mr, Arens, Where is this Communist camp?
Mr. Malkin. It is right in the township of Beacon, N, Y,
Mr, Arens, Have you ever been to that camp ?
Mr, Malkin. There is Camp Unity and Camp Nitkedaiget.
Mr, Arens. Have you ever been to those camps ?
Mr. Malkin, I have been to both camps,
Mr. Arens. Is there a meeting place in either camp ?
Mr. Malkin. There are quite a few houses built there,
Mr, Arens. These camps are owned by the Communist Party?
Mr. Malkin. Yes; and its front organizations,
Mr. Arens. What are these camps used for ?
Mr. Malkin. They are summer camps for Communists, or sympa-
thizers. They go out there as .people go out to any other camp or
country place.
Mr, Arens, Would you kindly proceed with your statement, Mr.
Malkin?
Mr, Malkin, Yes,
The use of citizenship papers to enter the United States without
detection has been going on since the party's inception in 1919, That
was especially done during the Spanish Civil War, the war in 1936
and 1937, when passports were forged by the hundreds and were col-
lected by the GFTI and the Communist Party representatives in Spain
from the recruits that reached there from the United States and who
were joining the loyalist army,
Mr, Arens, Are you saying, in eifect, that passports which were
issued by this Government to American citizens for the purpose of
going to Spain were then taken by the Communist representatives in
Spain from the persons to whom the passports were issued?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Arens. For the purpose of establishing, or attempting to estab-
lish, American citizenship by persons who were not Americans?
Mr, Malkin. Yes. In fact, the passport of every recruit that went
to the loyalist army from the United States was immediately taken
away by the commissar of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who at
that time was in charge, a fellow by the name of George Mink.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 491
Mr. Dekom. How did these commissars have authority to do that?
Was the unit controlled by the Communist Party?
Mr. Malkin. The whole thiui? was controlled by the Communist
Party. It was nothing but a Communist organization throughout.
Tlie "brigade was recruited by the Communist Party through Com-
munist agents, through Communist headquarters by Communist fronts,
and through funds collected by the Communist Party through front
organizations such as the American Committee for Aid to Spanish
Democracy, and similar fronts.
Every one of those passports was taken away by these agents. When
the end of the Spanish Civil War came, or when a soldier finished his
term and wanted to go back to the United States, most of them never
received their passports back again. Those passports were taken to
Moscow, and they were used to forge other passports for use by
Communist agents who traveled around the world.
Later the same procedure of the forgery of passports was used by
a person known by the name of Gerhart Eisler. He used the citizen-
ship of a person whom I know well, Sam Liptzen, who claimed he
had lost his certificate. This same Sam Liptzen, in my opinion, gave
him that paper willingly, because Sam Liptzen has been a charter
member of the party. He never deviated from the party line. He
carries out the party discipline according to the 21 commandments
of Comrade Stalin. He writes once in a while for the Jewish Daily
Freiheit, which is the daily Jewish Communist organ in the United
States. He is a member of the left-wing and control group of the
furriers' union in New York.
In my opinion, his statement that he lost that citizenship certificate
•was an absolute lie.
Mr. Dekom. Mr. Malkin, you have mentioned the furriers union on
one or two occasions. Is that a Communist controlled union?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Dekom. Who is president of that union ?
Mr. Malkin. Ben Gold.
^Ir. Dekom. Is he a member of the Communist Party ?
Mr. Malkin. He is a member of the party since 1921 and I was
at meetings with him throughout my period up until 1937.
Mr. Dekom. Isn't he one of the few Communist officials who pub-
licly admits being a member of the party ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
That American citizenship papers have been a blessing to the Com-
munist International is exemplified in the sending of American
naturalized citizens to Moscow to learn and to teach at the Lenin
School. Following are the names of just a fraction of the numbers
that were there.
Mr. Dekom. Will you identify the Lenin School?
Mr. Malkin. The Lenin School is the school where the Communist
Party sends its potential leaders to make professional revolutionary
leaders out of them. When they get hold of a bright young man who
is willing to be a yes-man for the party and to carry out orders without
question, he is sent to the Lenin School for training in party leadership.
Mr. Dekom. What type of things do they learn ?
Mr. Malkin. They learn everything from political economy from
the Marxian point of view, to the ultimate aim of the overthrow of the
492 coMMuisnsT activities in alien and national groups
United States Government, sabotage, how to make demolitions, how to
create riots, how to participate in riots, how to lead crowds in rioting,
how to create action committees, such as they did in Czechoslovakia
when they took over the Government ; as was done in San Francisco,
in 1933 and 1934, during the general strike in San Francisco. That
was a small rehearsal of the later action in Czechoslovakia.
Mr. Arens. How many naturalized citizens have been sent from the
United States to this Lenin School?
Mr. Malkin. Hundreds.
Mr. Arens. Over what period of time ?
Mr. Malkin. Since the party's inception.
Mr. Arens. Are they still sending them ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes, they always send them because they have to carry
on continuously what they call the education of leadership.
Mr. Arens. How do these people get to be naturalized citizens if they
are Communists?
Mr. Malkin, They deny that they are Communists.
Mr. Arens. Mr. Malkin, you testified a little while ago with respect
to the foreign-language groups that are under Communist control and
domination. Is there any particular element or group in our popula-
tion which is especially under Communist control and domination?
Mr. Malkin. As a unit, or as a group ?
Mr. Arens. Yes. We are composed, as we all know, of a nation of
various nationalities of various backgrounds. Is there any particular
group or element which is especially under the control and domination
of communism ?
Mr. Malkin. I wouldn't say the whole group. I would say that
parts of those foreisfn groups are. Take, for instance, the Polish
population. As a whole, it is loyal to the United States. But a small
fraction of their group is under the domination of the Communists,
especially ever since Russia took over Poland, and ever since the end
of the war.
In the case of the Hungarians it is also the same way. I wouldn't
say that the whole Hungarian population in the United States is
disloyal. I would say that a very small minority is disloyal. The
large majority of the Hungarian population in the United States are
absolutely loyal American citizens.
Mr. Arens. Wliat I was driving at is this : To be a little bit more
specific, are the Communists making disproportionate inroads among
the foreign-language groups which originated in those countries
which are now behind the iron curtain as distinguished from people
who have come from other nations, or other lands ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes, they are making inroads.
Mr. Arens. On a proportionate basis, are they making more in-
roads ?
Mr. Malkin. They are making more inroads now because, in my
opinion, of two reasons :
Let us say, for instance, that John has relatives in Hungary. If he
doesn't abide by the decisions of the Communists, of the organization
that the Communists are working in, he is afraid that his relatives
will be harmed in Hungary through terror and through intimidation.
Therefore, the Communists are making more inroads amongst the
people from those countries where they control at the present time
than they did before.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 493
Mr. Arens. What is the total membership of the Communist Party
ill the United States at this time?
Mr. Malkin. The card-carrying members would be about 75,000
to 100,000.
Mr. Arens. How many persons in the United States are under the
Communist discipline, control, or direction ?
Mr. Malkin. Under the Communist discipline, I would actually
figure, throughout the United States, about 4,000,000.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Four million?
Mr. Malkin. That is right.
Mr. Arens. What do you mean by under Communist discipline?
I know that I used the term, but I would like to have you describe it.
Mr. Malkin. For example, the International Workers Order has
135,000 members. That is controlled by the Communist Party. That
is, the organization is controlled by the Communist Party. The fur-
riers' union is controlled by the Communist Party. That is 16,000.
The United Electrical and iiadio Workers has locals controlled by the
Communist Party with a minimum membership of about 75,000. The
hotel and restaurant workers, I would estimate, have about 75,000
members. If you figure them all up, you can see how I arrive at my
figure.
Mr. Dekom. You don't say that the individuals themselves are under
party discipline, but rather that they are members of organizations
whose leaders are under the party's discipline ?
Mr. Malkin. They have to carry out the decisions formulated by
the leaders. For example, in the Eobeson affair, I would not say
that all of them were Communists. Most of them are dumb, but are
carrying out the discipline of the organization that ordered them to
go there.
Mr. Schroeder. How many of them are conscience members in the
International Workers Order?
Mr. Malkin. I would say that that all depends on what you consider
the conscience member, because, if you talk to one of the members there,
even though he is not a member of the party, he will be afraid to talk
against the Communist Party because he is liable to lose out in the
organization, so he will never tell you whether he is against them
or for them. Most will speak for them.
Mr. Dekom. How many know that the IWO is an affiliate of the
Communist Party?
Mr. Malkin. I would say that 95 percent of them know, because
that organization was organized by the Communist Party and has
been publicized in every paper in the country like the Jewish Daily
Forward and other foreign-language papers. It is a known fact that
Communists were leading, that they were under the leadership of
Max Bedacht, William Weiner, and all the others, who are known
as Communist members, members of the central party.
William Weiner used the alias of Warszover and was held on false
passport charges during the war, and I think was pardoned by Presi-
dent Roosevelt.
Mr. Dekom. Please go on.
Mr. Malkin. One of those that went to Moscow and spent quite a
few years there is a dentist known as J. Mindel. I think he is a
naturalized citizen of the United States. He is known as "Pop"
494 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Mindel. He is one of the directors of the Workers' School. He
taught at the Lenin School for quite a few years, and was known as
a Red professor from 1929 to 1934, at the Lenin School. He is at
present one of the directors of the Workers' School in New York.
Another one is A. Pomerantz, a Polish-born naturalized citizen, who
M'orks on the Jewish Morning Freiheit and who is also known in Mos-
cow as a Red professor.
William Weinstone, one of the members of the central committee of
the Communist Party, is a former graduate of City College of New
York. To my knowledge, he derived citizenship from his father. He
was a district organizer of the New York Communist Party from 1926
to 1929. He was district organizer in Detroit, and a former director
of the New York Workers' School. That is the official Communist
Party school. He was the American representative to the Communist
International from 1929 up to about 1933 or 1934, and was known in
Moscow as Randolph. Randolph was the name of all American repre-
sentatives in Moscow.
Mr. Dekom. Regardless of what their real names were?
Mr. Malkin. That is right.
Mr. Dekom. If their name was Randolph there, they knew that he
was the American representative from the American Party to the
Comintern ?
Mr. Malkin. That is right.
Another one is Beatrice Siskind, alias Beatrice Johnson. She has
never even declared her intention of becoming an American citizen.
She was in Moscow on a false American passport and spent a few
years there with the Lenin School. On her return to the United
States in 1929, sJie resumed her Communist activities as director of the
Chicago Red School and other subversive activities. This Beatrice
Siskind, alias Johnson, is under deportation proceedings at the pres-
ent time, and I think she is now on $10,000 bond. I think 2 weeks ago
she was let out of Ellis Island.
Beatrice Siskind has a brother and sister who are also members of
the Communist Party. Her brother is George Siskind, who has been
a member of my branch of the party for years while I was a member
of the party. He was formerly district organizer for the Communist
Party in New Haven around 1927 and 1928. In 1932, he became agita-
tion and propaganda director in New York City. I think he is also
an alien. I don't think he is a citizen ; not to my knowledge, anyway.
He is still active in the Communist Party.
His younger sister is also a member of the party and is married to a
Communist who is one of the engineers working for the Board of
Transportation in New York. At least he was working there.
Mr. Arens. To your knowledge, is there a fund contributed to, or
created by, the Communist Party in this country which is used for
the purpose of furnishing bail for alien Communists in deportation
proceedings ?
Mr. Malkin. To my knowledge, there has never been such a fund
established. It has been the procedure with the party to get some
close sympathizer — ''sugar daddy" — for the party to post a bond. If
the respondent or the defendant jumps bail, the Communist Party
usually makes good for that through the Communist International
fund, or through the Amtorg, or through some other channel.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 495
Another person who is traveling at the present time for the GPU
and for the Communist International — and I am not sure whether he
is naturalized or not — is a fellow by the name of Philip Ahrenberg,
who I have known as a Communist since 1919. He was formerly a
mens' clothing worker from New York. He has been traveling for
the Comintern and the GPU since 1938.
Mr. Dekom. The GPU is now called the MVD, the Ministry of
Internal Affairs ?
JNIr. Malkin. Yes, they are known as MVD.
Another person who entered the United States is the wife of Earl
Browder, Arisa Beckman. She is the wife of Earl Browder, formerly
director of the Lenin School in Moscow, working in the discipline
section of the GPU for foreign students in the Lenin School. She was
in charge of putting foreign students who rebelled against the Com-
munist International policy at the Lenin School in line.
Mr. Dekom. Did she do any work with the foreign language groups
in the United States ?
Mr. Malkin. She did some, but officially, I don't know. To my in-
formation, this wife of Earl Browder, through the intervention of
Mrs. Roosevelt, came into the United States legally after leaving the
country and going to Montreal, Canada.
Another person traveling in Europe is a former wife of Earl
Browder, that is, the wife before the one I have just mentioned, whose
name is Kitty Harris. Kitty Harris has traveled under the name of
Catherine Harrison. She has been working for the CI and for the
GPU for years.
Mr. Arens. What did she do ?
Mr. Malkin. She worked as an agent, or as a courier for the Com-
munist International, gathering information that is relayed from one
country or another to her superiors.
Another one is a sister of Earl Browder, Margaret Browder, known
as Jeanne Montgomery. She has been doing the same work as Kitty
Harris.
The third one who has traveled for the CI was Otto Hoiswood, alias
Billings. He is colored. I think he is back in the United States, but
he traveled for quite a few years for the GPU.
Mr. Arens. Did you have some further names you wish to give,
Mr. Malkin?
Mr. IVIalkin. Rudolph Baker, former district organizer of the
Communist Party, former member of the IWW, charter member of
the Communist Party, was district organizer of the Communist
Party in Detroit in 1925 and 1926, went to the Lenin School, Moscow,
1927, and has been traveling for the GPU and for the Communist
International since then. His citizenship is doubtful in my mind. I
am not sure that he is an American citizen, but that can be checked
with the Immigration Department.
B. Finkelbeig, charter member of the Communist Party and the Rus-
sian Federation in the United States, former director of World Tour-
ists, Inc., and coworker of J. Golos,^ former boy friend of Eliza-
beth Bentley, member of the central control commission of the Com-
munist Party for years, and has been traveling as a representative of
^ For the story of Jacob Golos, see testimony of Elizabeth Bentley, p. 106.
496 COMMTJN"IST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
the Communist International and the GPU. He has been working
with Charles Dirba, chairman of the all-powerful central control com-
mission of the Communist Party of the United States, gathering in-
formation of industrial plants, shipyards, et cetera, to be transmitted
to the Soviet Government in Moscow.
Alexander Trachtenberg, director of International Publishers, a
Communist publishing house, member, joined the Communist Party
in 1920-21, former member of the Socialist Party, and came to the
United States in 1906. He was naturalized in 1912. He is a member
of the central control commission, and to my knowledge chief of the
party's GPU section. Trachtenberg has made numerous trips to the
Soviet Union.
Ben Gold of the United Fur ^nd Leather Workers Union has been
a member of the Communist Party since 1920. He is a naturalized
American citizen. He went to Russia in 1929-30 and he carries out
the party line strictly according to orders of the party.
Max Bedacht, recently so-called officially expelled from the Com-
munist Party, one of the top heads of the International Workers
Order, a member of the national executive committee of the Com-
munist Party since 1919, since its inception in the United States, has
made between five and six trips, to my knowledge, to Russia.
Mr. Dekom. Was he a delegate to the Comintern ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes, sir; he went to numerous conventions or con-
gresses of the Comintern.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Is lie now residing in New Jersey ?
Mr. Malkin. That is right.
AVilliam Weinstone has been named before as having been to Mos-
cow on numerous occasions, and he has been a representative to the
Communist International for a few years at Moscow. He is a citizen
and a graduate of City College of New York.
Max Weiss is one of the members of the national committee of the
party who has made numerous trips to the Soviet Union and perjured
himself on statements in getting passports to go there.
Mr. Arens. How do you know that?
Mr. Malkin. He admitted it at Foley Square where he appeared
as a witness and the question was asked of him : Why did he make
different statements on his application for passports, and he admitted
that.
Alexander Bittelman, member of the Communist Party, alien,
theoretician of the American Communist Party who, to my knowl-
edge, went to the Soviet Union five or six times under names that I
knew him as, such as Spielberg, Goldstein, et cetera. He is now under
deportation proceedings.
Jack Stachel, agitation and propaganda director in the Communist
Party in America, joined the party in 1922, in the Young Workers
League, at 208 East Twelfth Street, New York City.
Mr. Dekom. What are the functions of the agitation and propa-
ganda department ?
Mr, Malkin. They are to distribute, publish, and to see that every
member of the party is acquainted with the party line and the party
literature, that every member of the party understands the structure,
aims, and principles of the party, and the aims and principles of the
party the way they were taught. The ultimate aim is to overthrow
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 497
the American Government by force and violence and to establish a
dictatorship of tlie proletariat in the United States. That is the ulti-
mate aim.
Mr. ScHROEDER. In these large-scale operations which you cited
in the party, what is the source of money for these members to travel
around ?
Mr. ]\1alkin. From 1919 up to 1926 and 1927, the Comintern and the
Soviet Government used to finance the American party, either through
a shipment of jewels for conversion to cash in the United States in
1920 and 1921 — that is, the crown jewels — or through Amtorg, or
through some "sugar daddies" who would give the American party
money and would be repaid by the Soviet Government.
Mr. Dekom. Was this during a period when millions of Russians
were starving because there was not enough food ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes; that was during the period when the Hoover
Relief Administration was out in Russia giving the Russians relief.
It was called the American Relief Administration.
IMr. Dekom. At the same time the Soviet Government was spending
money abroad for propaganda and agitation; is that right?
Mr. Malkin. Yes. In fact, there used to be special funds for the
Daily Worker, because the Daily Worker is always losing money. It
was mainly established through funds that were given by the Soviet
Government and the Comintern through different channels, either
through couriers or through Amtorg representatives, or people who
would come here with jewels and English pounds for conversion to
American dollars.
Mr. Dekom. Would you identify the Daily Worker?
Mr. Malkin. The Daily Worker was established in 1922 as the
Weekly Worker. In 1923-24, it was established as the daily paper in
the English language. That is the official organ of the Communist
Party in the United States and up to 1939-40, it used to have on its
masthead: "Section of the Communist InteriiMtioiuil.
Mr. Dekom. Is it still the official organ of the Communist Party?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Dekom. Even though they have removed that from their mast-
head?
JNIr. Malkin. That is right.
John Williamson, alien, joined the Young Workers League in
1921-22, formerly resided at Seattle, a former member of the national
executive committee of the Young Workers Communist League, now a
member of the Politburo of the Communist Party, United States of
America, is at present one of the 11 people, together with Stachel on
trial at Foley Square, New York City, on the charge of advocating the
overthrow of the Government by force and violence.
John Williamson has made numerous trips to Russia to different
congresses of the Communist International under different aliases and
passports. He has never even bothered to formally file a declaration
of intention. Together with the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, we established that he was alien-born. I think he was born
in England.
Irving Potash, manager of the New York joint council of the Fur
and Leather Workers Union, also one of the 11 on trial at Foley
Square. He spent some time in the Soviet Union during the early
498 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
1930's. He went there on a forged passport because he was an alien.
He is now under deportation proceedings.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Is WilliaiTison under deportation proceedings?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Herbert Benjamin, who, to my knowledge, is Ben Herbertson, joined
the Communist Party in 1919. He is an alien who did not register for
the draft in the First World War. He has made numerous trips to the
Soviet Union. In the early 1930's he was the leader of the Unemployed
Council and the National Hunger Marchers to Washington. He be-
came very friendly with the deceased Harry Hopkins and Aubrey
Williams.
Mr. Dekom. Would you identify Aubrey Williams ?
Mr. Malkin. He was the national administrator of the National
Youth Administration under President Roosevelt and Harry Hopkins
was the close adviser to President Roosevelt, and also, I think, he was
the Administrator of the WPA.
Herbert Benjamin was district organizer for the Workers (Com-
munist) Party, w^hich is the Communist Party, at Cleveland in 1925-26.
In 1927, he was district organizer at Philadelphia, Pa. He is now one
of the national directors of the International Workers Order, which is
the Communist fraternal front.
Mr. Dekom. Do you know of any principal officer of the Interna-
tional Workers Order who was not a member of the Communist Party?
Mr. Malkin. No ; not to my knowledge, because most of the national
officers of the Communist Party — and I say this through my personal
knowledge of having been with them in the party — have been members
of the Communist Party and are still members of the party.
Mr. Dekom. Is the international Workers Order ever used as a
means of finding financial support for the Communist Party personnel ?
In other words, to give them jobs in the IWO ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes ; people who are in danger of being deported, or
whose names have been in the public eye too much, are sometimes
removed from positions of the party and placed in positions in the
International Workers Order, such as a person by the name of Shim-
shom Milgrim, alias Sam Mills, who was formerly held for deportation
around 1935-36 as an alien, and whom I have known in the party since
he came from Poland in 1922 with a transfer from the Polish Com-
munist youth organization to the United States.
Mr. Dekom. Have IWO positions ever been used to give financial
support to Communist Party sympathizers?
Mr. Malkin. Well, it has been used to give financial support to the
Communist Party as such in an indirect way by placing page adver-
tisements in the Daily Worker, and the amount would ordinarily be
around $5,000 or more. The IWO, in order to show that they spend
money for publicity, would pay the Daily Worker $10,000 for a $500
page to show that they paid for publicity.
Mr. Dekom. Do they do that for foreign-language Communist
papers ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes ; they do do that.
Mr. Dekom. Is that an extensive practice ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Dekom. To support the Communist press?
Mr. Malkin. The Communist press and the Communist-front press.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 499
Mr. Dekom. That is, those papers and organizations which are
sympathetic to the Communists ?
Mr. Malkin. That is right.
Mike Obermeier, a leader in the Hotel and Eestaurant Workers
Union in New York, representative of the labor union known as the
Profintern, who spent sometime in Moscow during 1930, 1931, and
1932, and came back to the United States as the Profintern representa-
tive. He lias ,ti;aveled Europe extensively and is now under deporta-
tion proceedi;ijs.
B. K. GebertJ whom I mentioned previously as one of the originators
of the American Slav Congress and one of the members of the national
executive committee of the Communist Party, took numerous trips to
liussia on different false passports. He is now in Poland as chief of
the labor department of the Polish Government.
William Weiner, alias Bill Blake, also known as Welwel Warzover,
who was convicted by the United States Government on a false-pass-
port charge during 1939, and who is an alien. He has never even
declared his intention of becoming a citizen and he traveled on false
passport from the United States to Russia on numerous occasions.
He was later released by orders or by interference, or whatever you
might call it, from President Roosevelt.
Bill Simmons joined the Communist Party in 1919; he is a clothing
worker. He was a former district organizer in New Haven, 1925-26,
and spent some time in Mexico as the American Communist repre-
sentative in Mexico during the early twenties, and became somewhat
of an expert for the Communist Party on Latin- American affairs.
He was an organizer of the Anti-Imperialist League in 1924-25, and
has been traveling in Europe and this country since 1928. He is still
out on the road.
Of these I have mentioned just a few examples of how the Com-
munists misuse their citizenship and passports by violating our laws.
Our Government could do very little to stop it due to our lack of
proper immigration and naturalization laws.
AVlien a Communist comes up for a citizenship, and especially one
that is known as such, he is able to bring character witnesses for him-
self that the Government might temporarily think are unimpeachable,
like fehe recent case of Susi,^ United States District Court {United
States V. Susl) . On the basis of character witnesses, citizenship was
granted because of certain restrictions in the law.-
Mr. Dekom. Was deportation pending against Susi at that time?
Mr. Malkin. No, there was a question of citizenship. The Govern-
ment claimed that he was a member of the Communist Party.
Mr. Arens. As of the time he was up for his naturalization, were
there also any other proceedings pending in regard to deportation ?
Mr. Malkin. I don't think so, but maybe there were.
1 have testified for the Immigration and Naturalization Service on
numerous deportation hearings as an expert witness, and I became
somewhat acquainted with some of the procedures. These are the
reasons why I claim that some of the laws that are in effect at the
present time are inadequate.
' Archiilio Snsi.
2 The Government failed to produce the chief witnesses against Susi.
98330— 50— pt. 2 8
500 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
I also refer to the dragged-out hearings on procedures and appeals
during which time the alien is able to carry on subversive activities
and help subversive elements to advocate the overthrow of the Gov-
ernment by force and violence.
There is the case of Gerhart Eisler, who was out under bond pend-
ing an appeal on deportation proceedings and was able while on bond
to carry on lectures and propaganda against our Government during
that hearing.
Irving Potash, Jack Stachel, Mike Obermeier, John Williamson,
Claudia Jones, Beatrice Siskind, George Pirinsky, are some of the
cases that have been held under deportation proceedings in the Gov-
ernment and who were able to carry on propaganda while out on
bond.
The only way to enable us to get rid of a great many of these alien
agitators and to tighten our naturalization and deportation laws is to
overhaul our administrative department laws to enable the Immigra-
tion and Naturalization Service to put the laws into effect and prop-
erly execute them and expedite the deportation of these dangerous
aliens.
Senator O'Conor, We are certainly obliged to you for your very
clear-cut and intelligent presentation of the situation. I would like
to say that for the record because it has been very intelligent.
May I ask you if you could be more specific in regard to the last
statement as to the necessity for the amendatory legislation and also
with regard to the administrative practices ? Could you give us some
details as to just what you think might be done to correct this very
alarming situation ?
Mr. Mai.kin. The present laws do not allow the Department of Jus-
tice and the Immigration and Naturalization Service to give a hearing
to an alien who has been in this country and who has beeii a member
of a subversive organization, to give him a hearing as to the evidence,
and deport him immediately. Under the present laws he is allowed
to appeal and appeal and appeal, and that proceeding is dragged
out for years.
Meanwhile, the appeals are going on, and he is able to carry on this
subversive work. The proper thing to do would be to give the Im-
migration and Naturalization Service actual authority to have a hear-
ing on a case with proper evidence against the respondent and give
him one hearing. If it is proved he is a member of a certain organ-
ization, he should be deported without further hearings of any sort.
Because of my knowledge of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, they are actually in charge when the person comes into this
country. I do not see why they should not be fully in charge to get
rid of him if he is subversive, instead of dragging out a hearing and
giving the alien all that liberty and democratic procedure Avhich is
accorded United States citizens, when he is trying to destroy our
freedom.
I know we are not like other countries. We are a democracy. We
must not practice any Fascist or dictatorial laws, or totalitarian laws
tliat are practiced in the other countries, but still on this question
these people come into our country and they do not bother to even
declare their intention of becoming citizens for many years. They
get their education here, make their livelihood here. They are given
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 501
all the freedom in the world, freedom they would never get in their
former homes, and still they do not see fit to declare their intention
of becoming citizens ; some of them for 25 and 30 years.
Mr. Arens. If Congress should pass a law in effect outlawing the
Communist Party, what, in your judgment, would be the effect of that
statute on the Communist apparatus and Communist activities in the
United States?
Mr. Malkin. In my opinion, if the Communist Party is outlawed
that would insure the ultimate destruction of the party in this country
and provide the necessary statutes to apprehend and punish foreign
espionage agents who are now operating in this country.
Senator O'Conor. The question was asked you along a different line,
and very much in point. The subject matter is of intense interest to all
the members of the Senate as to what, in your opinion, would be the
result of the passage of a statute outlawing the Communist Party?
Mr. Malkin. That would smash the Communist Party, in my
opinion.
Senator O'Conor. Do you have any fears at all that it would drive
them underground as a result, which would be bad?
Mr. Malkin. No, due to my former experience in 1920 and 1921,
when the American Communist Party was underground, when we
split away from the Socialist Party and formed the Communist Party.
Then we were about 87,000 members.
Three years of underground illegality deprived the party of open
.propaganda through the press, leaflets, open demonstrations, attrac-
tion of youth, attraction of other elements of the party, which cut off
all of that source and practically stifled the party. Within a 2-year
period, the party, was only 3,500 members strong, because even those
people who supported the Communist Party financially who were not
members of the party ran away.
Senator O'Conor. After it then regained a legal status, so-called,
to what total figure did the party grow prior to your severance?
Mr. Malkin. It took quite a few years after the letter from Lenin
to the American party. Lenin stated the following, and I am quoting
verbatim :
The American Communist Party must strive to get out from underground as
fast as possible. If not, it will be stifled to death.
It was after quite a few years of building up the Daily Worker, open
education of trade unions, open education of mass organizations, and
everything else, that the prestige of the party was regained. But
actually, underground, the illegality kills a Communist movement, just
like it did in Germany as soon as Hitler drove it underground; just
like it did for a certain period in Canada in 1939 and 1940. I had a
little experience, having helped out the Canadian Government during
that period for a short while, in driving some of it underground.
Mr. Dekom. Is it not a fact also that the espionage and much of
their subversive activity is already underground ?
Mr. Malkin. Actually, the way they work underground now is
that they took away all forms of identification material from the
party members, party membership books, and so forth. They hid the
records of the party, and leadership is kept in the background, but
still they are able to carry on an open propaganda campaign; carry
on open meetings, mass meetings; open speech making, and everything
502 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
else, demonstrations in Washington, demonstrations in Poughkeepsie,
and others.
Underground they would not be able to do that. It would kill them.
Once the party is driven underground, once that happens, there is a
lack of effort and they are out of breath. That is the time they are
dead.
Mr. Arens. May I ask this question? It is undoubtedly naive to
the Senator here, because he has been conducting hearings on the
other subversive bills, but I would like to ask what, if a statute
were passed saying that the Communist Party as such were outlawed,
would you do then to subdue the other organizations which the Com-
munists would undoubtedly form? How w^ould 3'OU designate the
organizations wdiich would be outlawed in addition to just the name
"Communist Party?"
Mr. Malkin. The name of Communist Party does not mean a thing
because the Communist Party has had numerous names.
Mr. Arens. How are you going to outlaw it ?
Mr. Malkin. Any party that is organized, whether under a differ-
ent name, as Communist Party, or Workers" Party, or any other name,
as long as its ultimate aim is the overthrow of the Government by
force and violence.
Senator O'Conor. Also, of course, the pending bill before this com-
mittee provides that any such movement which is directed from
abroad, which has any foreign sponsorship or control, is deemed to be
inimical to the interests of the United States.
Mr. Malkin. Yes, but there is also a clanger to that, too. The
Communist Party of the United States could pull a trick like they
pulled during the Roosevelt administration: "Wq]1, w^e disaffiliate
from the Communist International. We are no longer with them."'
How will you prove that ? The only way would be to realize that as
long as the Communist Party has never in its history openly repudi-
ated its conditions of admission to the Communist International, the
21 conditions, it is still affiliated in spite of all statements that they
might make.
Any organization that is left in any way, shape, or form by the
party, or through its membership, or any Communists of the organiza-
tion, should also be outlawed. That is, such as a trade union. You
cannot outlaw all trade unions, but you could disband the trade unions
and get a person like Ben Gold out and democratically supervise the
election of a real democratic leadership for that union.
Mr. Arens. Do you have difficulty in proving a man is a Communist
now ? How do you prove a man is a Communist now ? Let us assume
that Mr. X has been indicted, or is up under deportation proceedings
as a Communist, and he does not admit that he is a Communist. How
do you prove that he is a Communist ?
Mr. Malkin. By former comrades of his in the party, and by dif-
ferent petitions and statements that he signs, so-called nominating
petitions. Most Communists in New York or other parts of the coun-
try have been arrested on demonstrations on and off, and w^e could
use that method.
Mr. Arens. Can a court conclude from the fact that somebody signs
a petition nominating a known Communist for a public office, that
he participated in a demonstration which was sponsored by the Com-
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 503
munist organization, and that he belonged to an organization which
has been designated by the Attorney General as communistic; can
the court conclude from all that that he must be a Communist?
Mr. Malkin. That is right, because any person with any common
sense would know that after he has attended five or six demonstra-
tions by Communists and he is impressed with them, that he is a Com-
munist, but that member does not have to carry a membership book.
He is an official member regardless. He is a practicing Communist.
Those Communists are more dangerous than the party members,
actually.
Mr. Dekom. Can you name some people who have been prominent
in the Communist-front movement ?
Mr. Malkin. I could name quite a few — Archibald MacLeish, Theo-
dore Dreiser, Waldo Frank, Robert Sherwood, Olin Downes, of the
New York Times, and many Hollywood writers. A lot of them are not
definitely members of the party.
Harry Hopkins was never a member of the Communist Party, but
still he catered to Herbert Benjamin to a certain degree. So did Au-
brey Williams. He was a member of the League Against War and
Fascism, which was a Communist front. So did Mr. Ickes.
Mr. Dekom. How about Sidney Hillman?
Mr. Malkin. Sidney Hillman, to my knowledge, although I was
never at a party meeting with him, has been a member of the Com-
munist Party since 1921.
Mr. Arens. Does the Communist Party embrace a code of ethics
or morality which would induce them to commit what we would nor-
mally call deceit, misi-epresentation, or fraud?
Mr. Malkin. Yes. The Communist Party, according to the writj
ings of the party, and according to Lenin's teachings, and a pamphlet
that we introduced as evidence, called Left-wing Communism an
Infantile Disorder and State and Revolution. In that pamphlet^
Lenin says that the Communist Party must practice in order to pene-
trate mass organizations, trade-unions, and other organizations, where
Communists would not be allowed to enter, must practice deceit,
fraud, perjury, and everything else in order to get in. He must use
all means to gain their ends.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Do you know anything about the activities in
Central and South America of the Communist Party ?
Mr. Malkin. I have known for quite a while of the way the Com-
munist Party directs its apparatus.
In Central America and South America, the Communist Party has
been concentrating, since the early 1920's, and during the Sandino
uprising in Nicaragua, 1927, of the South American section of Latin
America. Why? Because of their low living standards and because
they are more gullible for everyday revolution and they are easily
attracted toward revolutionary uprisings through the manipulations
of the Communist Party, and through propaganda on the part of
the Communists on their low standard of living.
For instance, we will say Cuban sugar workers and tobacco workers,
and so forth. Lately the Communist Party has been concentrating
on the Marshall plan, and the United States has given the Soviet
504 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Union a great set-back with the Marshall plan. So, they are trying
to concentrate around, here, and also through China.
Mr. Arens. May I ask this : I understood you to say earlier today
that you had broken with the party because you realized that the
party was controlled from Moscow. Has that always been the case?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Arens. How come you did not break with it sooner ? Did you
just arrive at that conclusion after you were further enlightened,
or what was the series of facts w^hich made your mind evolve to the
conclusion that it was controlled and directed by Moscow ?
Mr. Malkin. I have known that it was controlled by Moscow
throughout my membership in the party, but it took a couple of years
behind prison walls to give me a little further education.
Mr. Arens. Do you care to elaborate on that?
Mr. Malkin. Yes. I was convicted in 1926 in New York for my
activities in the furriers' strike. I was sentenced to 2^ years at
Sing Sing State prison, charged with felonious assault. While in
prison, I was able to restudy some of the party literature. I also
borrowed quite a few books on American history in the prison library,
and between the two of them, I became more enlightened toward
Americanism and away from communism.
Then, when I came out of prison, and I went back into the party,
I began my revolt against the party. I attempted to organize within
the party so that there would be a split, to break away from the
party. I was not successful, of course, because some of the people
notified the party of my heresy, so that is how I came to be out.
It took quite a few years for me to decide, because it takes a member
who joins the party and throws himself energetically into all of the
party's affairs and work, quite a bit of time. He has to be convinced
of a certain principle, what he thinks is a principle, and it takes quite
a long time to break away from it.
Mr. Arens. Did the rank and file of your Communist members in
the United States, or persons under Communist discipline, realize
that the party is controlled and directed from Moscow ?
Mr. Malkin. Most party members who have been in the party less
than a period of 6 months realize that.
Senator O'Conor. Were there any efforts of reprisal made against
you when you left?
Mr. Malkin. There were plenty of them. In fact, every time I
appear at a deportation hearing I usually get threats and telephone
calls, 12 to 15 times a night, telling me to increase my insurance on
my family, et cetera. We all go through that. We all go through
that who have cooperated withl:he Government and broken from the
party. We almost all must go through that stage. Some weaken,
and some do not.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Are there any activities in Puerto Rico to organize
those people into the Communist Party ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes ; the Communist Party has been active in Puerto
Rico and throughout that section.
Senator O'Conor. How about the Canal Zone?
Mr. Malkin. That, too. In fact, I remember a party man by the
name of William Penning who was sent there as an engineer on the
Canal in 1925, and he was carrying on party work there.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 505
agents who are organizing the party there were in an organization
called the Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists, and Tech-
nicians, under the leadership of a fellow by the name of Marcel Sherer,
who is a charter member of the party.
Mr. Dekom. Did the United Public Workers' Union go down there,
too 'i
Mr. Malkin. That is right, after the ground work was laid by the
Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists, and Technicians.
Mr. Dekom. Is that a Communist-controlled union ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Dekom. Do you know who is its president ?
Mr. Malkin. Abram Flaxer. I have known him. It was orig-
inally organized in the home-relief set-up known as the Home Relief
Employees' Association.
Mr. Dekom. Thank you.
Mr. Arexs. We have information to the effect that persons are
arriving in the United States from Puerto Rico at the rate of a little
in excess of 1,000 a week, persons who are technically American cit-
izens. Do you have any information respecting those persons who
are arriving and who may be subversive ?
Mr. Malkin. Lately it has been the party policy of getting South
American agents. Communist agents, or Communists, Chilean or
Argentinians. They will go to Puerto Rico and reside there for a
few months. They make out papers that they were born in Puerto
Rico, and since they are natives of Puerto Rico they are American
citizens. That is how they entered the United States. Actually they
are Argentinians or Chilean Communists.
Mr. Arens. \Vliat is your source of information on that ?
Mr. Malkin. My sources of information are from a couple of officers
of merchant ships and people from unions.
Mr. Arens. How extensive is that practice ?
Mr. Malkin. It is quite extensive.
Mr. Arens. Does your information indicate that that process or
practice is used currently?
Mr. Malkin. That is right.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Ill other words, somebody in the Puerto Rican Gov-
ernment issues birth certificates that these people are natives of Puerto
Rico?
Mr. Malkin. There must be some clerical workers, or somebody
higher up in the government, who issues these certificates. Other-
wise, if they cannot get certificates, they get what they call secondary
evidence of their birth, because there is such a thing as secondary evi-
dence of proving birth without a birth certificate.
Mr. Arens. What connections, if any, do the Communists in Canada
have with the Communists in the United States ?
Mr. Malkin. The Communist Party of Canada and the Communist
Party in the United States are brother parties. They are under the
same discipline, and they are supposed to exchange information and
advice, financial and every other way.
Mr. Arens. To what extent is there transportation of Commu-
nists between the two countries ?
Mr. Arens. Communists just walk across the border by proving
American citizenship with a certificate, and even a chauffeur's license.
506 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
You could walk into Canada and you could come back with all kinds
of reports.
Mr. Arens. Where all did you operate in the course of your services ?
Mr. Malkin. I operated all over the United States.
Mr. Arens. Were you in the full time pay of the Communists?
Mr. Malkin. At times. I worked in a shop, and at times I was a
full time functionary of the party.
Mr. Arens. What was the nature of the remuneration that you
received ?
Mr. Malkin. Actually, it was a ruling in the party at that time that
a single man was supposed to get from $25, $35, to $50 a week. That is,
plus traveling expenses, of course.
The party then paid $15 weekly for every child and $20 extra for
a wife if she was unemployed.
Mr. Arens. What did you do, specifically ?
Mr. Malkin. I was actually in the organization in every way, in
the trade-unions and mass organizations.
Mr. Arens. Can you tell us more specifically what you did within
the unions, or within the groups that you contacted ?
Mr. Malkin. I went to organize m the field where there were no
unions during the early period from 1930 up to, say, 1935. I went
to organize in the places where there were no trade-unions. I would
send in Communists within that industry and build up the local union.
Mr. Dekom. They were not identified as Communists, were they?
Mr. Malkin. No, they were not.
Mr. Arens. After the union was organized, what did you do ?
Mr. Malkin. We placed Communists in control of that union, of the
finances, of the organization, and anything else. Any member who
did not toe the line was told about it, and it was just too bad.
Mr. Schroeder. What is the nature of the Progressive Labor Party
of Canada?
Mr. Malkin. That is a Communist Party. That is the official Ca-
nadian Communist Party. That is a section of the Communist Inter-
national, the same as the American Communist Party is a section of
the Communist International.
Mr. Arens. Do you have any information respecting the atom
spy ring operating in Canada, and presumably, in the United States?
Mr. Malkin. I am a little bit acquainted with it. One person I
knew was a fellow by the name of Sam Novick, of the Wholesale
Radio Corp. He used to run the LaFayette Radio Corp., and Whole-
sale Radio. He later became president of the Electronic Corp. of
America, the outfit that provided a "cover" for Russian espionage
agents in this country during the last war. How I got acquainted
with him was that I was supposed to leave for the Soviet Union and
a banquet was given in my honor at the Hotel Albert in 1932. That is
how I got acquainted with Sam Novick.
Mr. Dekom. Was he at the banquet ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Dekom. Was that a Communist banquet ?
Mr. Malkin. It was not official, but it was called the Comrades of
Malkin and he came there. I also met him at his office a few times, at
100 Sixth Avenue, New York, N. Y.
Mr. Dekom. Do you know whether he was a party member?
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 507
Mr. Malkin. No ; I don't think he was.
Mr. Dekom. How did he get involved in this dinner ?
Mr. Malkin. I was acquainted with him through a fellow by the
name of Irving Koenig, who used to buy some material from him for
the Stewart-Warner Corp., and who made numerous trips to Russia.
Mr. Dekom. Is he a Communist?
Mr. Malkin. No.
Mr. Arens. Do you have information respecting any persons in
the Government of the United States who are at the present time,
to your knowledge, either Communists, or directly under Communist
discipline ?
Mr, Malkin. No ; not now.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Do you know any in your own State ?
Mr. Malkin. In a State ; yes.
Mr. SciiROEDER. In a State government?
Mr. Malkin. The teachers, and I have given affidavits. In fact,
these are now in possession of the board of regents.
Mr. Dekom. Is that in New York State ?
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Arens. I would like again to remind you that we have asked
you and you have agreed to transmit to the subcommittee a list of
these papers which you feel are Communist papers.
Mr. Malkin. Yes.
Mr. Arens. I have no further questions.
Senator O'Conor. Thank you very much, Mr. Malkin.
Mr. Malkin. Thank you, sir.
Senator O'Conor. We will recess at this time.
(Whereupon, at 3 p. m., the subcommittee recessed, to reconvene
at 10 : 30 a. m., September 8, 1949.)
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES AMONG ALIENS
AND NATIONAL GEOUPS
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1949
United States Senate,
Special Subcommittee To In\t:stigate
Immigration and Naturalization of the
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, D. G.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, at 10 : 30 a. m., in room
424, Senate Office Building, Senator Forrest C. Donnell presiding.
Present: Senator Donnell (presiding).
Also present: Messrs. Richard Arens, staff director of the special
subcommittee ; Frank W. Schroeder and Otto J. Dekom, professional
staff.
Senator Donnell. The hearing will now come to order.
Mr. Arens, will you proceed ?
Mr. Arens. This is a continuation of the hearings on S. 1832 to pro-
vide for the exclusion and deportation of subversives.
Our next witness, Mr. Chairman, is Mr. John J. Huber.
Senator Donnell. Mr. Huber, do you solemnly svrear that the testi-
mony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. Huber. I do.^
TESTIMONY OP JOHN J. HUBER
Mr. Arens. Mr. Huber, is it agreeable with you for all or any part
of your testimony today and your identity to be released publicly?
Mr. Huber. Yes, sir.
Senator Donnell. Pardon me, Mr. Huber, it is now about 7 min-
utes before the time the Senate convenes, and I am wondering whether
you would be willing to go right ahead with your statement, and then
respond to questions of Mr. Arens, or his assistants. I will ask that
I be excused from attendance. Are^you willing to go right ahead,
Mr. Huber?
Mr. Huber. Yes, sir.
Senator Donnell. Very well. I am glad to have met you.
Mr. Arens. Will you please state your name and give us an outline
of your background and experience ^
Mr. Huber. My name is John J. Huber. I was born in New York
City and have lived in that city and its environs all of my life. In
1937, I was employed in a supervisory capacity in the WPA in New
* The witness appeared under subpena.
509
510 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
York City, where I came in contact with fellow workers who were
members of the Communist Party.
My superiors in WPA knew that I did not share the Communist
ideology and suggested to me that I could be of service to our Nation
and our democratic way of life if I would cooperate with Government
officials in identifying the leaders in the Communist Party in this
country. I offered my services in any manner that the Government
saw fit to use them. Accordingly, I was requested to go to the local
office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New York City for in-
structions. I did this and was asked whether or not I would be willing
to join the Communist Party in order that I might be ke])t informed on
party matters and report them to the FBI. I told the FBI officials that
I would endeavor to join the Communist Party on behalf of the United
States Government and would report to the FBI office or its agents
the information I gained from such membership.
Thereafter, I continued on friendly relations with my coworkers in
the WPA office and within a few weeks was invited to join the Com-
munist Party of the United States. After the invitation was repeated
two or three times within a short period of time, I agreed to and did
join the Communist Party. It was under these circumstances that I
became a member of the Communist Party of the United States in the
latter part of 1938 and held membership until the middle part of 1947,
at which time I ceased my work with the FBI of my own volition.
Mr. Dekom. To what extent did you devote yourself to party work?
Mr. HuBER. During my period of membership in the Communist
Party, I gave my full time to party activities. I did not miss a meet-
ing of my unit of the party in 8 years. I was a member of the Teamster
Branch of the Water Front Section of the Communist Party, which
was the most powerful and militant section of the party in the United
States. I progressed through various stages in my work, from distrib-
uting leaflets and the Daily Worker to active participation in such
Communist front organizations as the American Slav Congress, the
■Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy, the Joint Anti-
Fascist Refugee Committee, the Council on African Affairs, the Span-
ish Action Committee, and the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln
Brigade.
I was in close contact with the leaders of Communist Party as well
as these various front organizations and was admitted to the closed
executive meetings. I have an intimate acquaintance with many of
the leaders of the Communist Party, particularly in the New York
City area, and stand ready to make such information available to the
Senate Judiciaiy Committee.
Mr. Dekom. During your work as an under-cover agent in the Com-
munist Party, did you maintain any continuing record of your own
activities and of party activities with which you had connection?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, I did. I not only made periodic reports to the
FBI, but I also kept a continuous diary over a period of about 8 years.
1 have this material here with me and, as you can see, it is contained in
two large notebooks, running into nearly 1,000 typewritten pages. I
will be happy to turn this information over to you.
Mr. Dekom. With the permission of the chairman, we will receive
that in evidence and mark it "Huber Exhibit 1."
(Tlie documents referred to were marked "Huber Exhibit 1," and
filed for the information of the subcommittee.)
COlVnVIUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 511
Mr. Dekom. As a member of the Communist Party, were you issued
i:)eriodic membership books or cards?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, I was. I have them here with me and will be glad
to submit them to you.
Mr. Dekom. With the permission of the chairman, these member-
ship books and cards will be received in evidence and marked "Huber
Exhibit 2."
(The documents referred to were marked "Huber Exhibit 2," and
appear following p. 512.)
Mr. Dekom. I notice that your Communist Party membership cards
are made out to three different units : "Connolly Branch," "Eleventh
Assembly District," and "Unity Center." Would you please explain
the difference in names?
Mr. Huber. There is no difference; they are all one. The names
were changed from time to time, but these are all the same unit. The
unit is located at 2744 Broadway, New York. In July 1943, for ex-
ample, every branch of the Communist Party changed the name it had
been using and became known as the assembly district club in which it
was located. For example, the James Connolly Branch and the Earl
Browder Branch became known as the Eleventh Assembly District
Club. The Seamen's Branch, located at 230 Seventh Avenue, became
known as the Seamen's Club. That change occurred throughout all the
Communist Party branches in the New York area. The reasons given
for that change were that the name Assembly District Club would add
prestige and would aid in drawing new members, and that, in time,
these clubs would take their places beside the Republican, Democrat,
and American Labor Party clubs in their respective neighborhoods.
It was pointed out that the Communist Party commanded more respect
in neighborhoods where those clubs were situated since the substitu-
tion of the term "club" for that of "branch." The fact that a recent
recruiting drive had added 5,500 new members to the party ranks was
given in justification of that change in terms. The only branches of
the Communist Party which had not changed to the use of the term
"assembly district club" are those attached to the industrial section.
That designation would not fit those clubs since their branches were
among needleworkers, some of which were located in shops where com-
rades worked.
Mr. Dekom. Go ahead, please.
Mr. Huber. I would also like to submit to the committee a num-
ber of letters, papers, and testimonials which give a picture of my
services in the party and of my connection with party members and
activities.
Mr. Dekom. We will receive these' and mark them "Huber Ex-
hibit 3."
(These documents were marked "Huber Exhibit 3" and appear fol-
lowing p. 512.)
Mr. Dekom. In the course of your party activity, Mr. Huber, did
you attend any schools or courses of instruction ?
Mr. Huber. Yes. When new members were taken into the Com-
munist Party, they were given about 10 lessons in training sessions
designed to teach the new members the principles of communism.
Thereafter, the new members were assigned to sections where they
were taught the principles of Marxism-Leninism.
512 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Mr. Dekom. What was the nature of the teaching you received ?
Mr. HuBER. Let me give you an example. On March 6, 1940, I
attended a new-members class at 131 East Seventeenth Street, New
York City, led by Charles Cook. His topic of discussion was Struggle
for Peace. Cook said in this class that, "if this country becomes in-
volved in an imperialist war, a civil war will ensue to stop such a war,
because the capitalists will arm the masses who will then turn their
guns on them." Cook, in his talk to the new class, stated that the
policy of the Communist Party was the overthrow of the United States
Government by force and violence.
Mr. Dekom. On the basis of your years of work in the Communist
Party, your observation of party activity, and your contact with party
leaders, what is your evaluation, your judgment of the Communist
Party in the United States ?
Mr. Huber. In my opinion, the Communist Party of the United
States is the most dangerous and vicious organization that has ever
existed within the borders of this country.
Despite the alleged dissolution of the Communist International in
1943, the Communist Party in this and every other country in the world
still takes orders from Moscow. That was proven beyond a doubt by
the complete repudiation of Earl Browder and his policies, upon
direction of Jacques Duclos, French member of the Comintern.
The Communist Party will stop at no lengths to achieve its avowed
purpose of overthrowing our existing Government by force or other-
wise, in order to establish a communistic regime in its stead. It is
true that the constitution of the Communist Party no longer contains
the phrase pertaining to the revolutionary overthrow of the Govern-
ment, but that phrase is engraven in the hearts of all Communists and
is merely omitted from their printed matter in order to prevent the
party from being declared illegal. The party will use the weapon of
revolution, through ordering general strikes, through creating social
unrest, through propagandizing against capitalism as the root of the
evils suffered by the masses, and through golden promises of an Utopia,
where everyone will share alike and be equal.
Further, the party will use its best weapon, that of boring from
within, joining democratic coalitions, until the Communist members
gain control of the leadership, and by getting large numbers of Com-
munists elected or appointed to Government agencies.
The membership of the Communist Party consider it their sacred
duty to work diligently every waking hour, to accomplish something
for the improvement and advancement of the party and its aims.
Comrades hold key positions in all city. State, and Federal agencies.
They never cease their efforts to achieve the accomplishment of the
party line as outlined for them by the national committee. They
thrive on the discontent of the masses, and unflaggingly operate to
sow seeds of dissatisfaction, resulting in the successful recruiting of
thousands of malcontents.
In conducting their Communist activities, members of the Commu-
nist Party are apparently given free rein in this country. They are
permitted to hold public meetings, mass demonstrations, distribute
literature criticizing and denouncing our Government and its foreign
and domestic policies — all openly conducted under the auspices of the
Communist Party and its front organizations.
„ Party of
iT* worklnx claaa political p«rty CArrrlBi
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HuBER Exhibit 2
Communist Party meinbersliip l)(x>k, 1943
NECESSARY READING
(•nee your fellow work<^r. trade union brother or
slater, nelcbbor or friend— every Communist abould
get the habit of readlaa rrsBUrly, each day — THE
DAIbT WORKER.
Vorktr NOW and EV
advanced thinktnr and atudyliis by
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COMMUNIST ACTIVITIE S IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 5 1 2 A
HuBEE Exhibit 2
No. 10235
(Somnuu^t f^olitical .^ASociat
1944
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MEMBERSHIP DUES
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DUES RATES
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S5 for last 6 months ot 10 i i p^p ^o.
Regular dues (for those earning over $S(>(M) per week) $1.00
Earning from $20.00 to S30.()() per meek 50
Earning less than $20.00 per week . .25
Communist Political Association membership card, 1944.
512b communist activities in alien and national groups
HuBER Exhibit 2
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COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 512C
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98330— 50— pt.
512d communist activities in alien and national groups
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COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 512e
HUBER Exhibit 3
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512f communist activities in alien and national groups
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COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 512g
HUX5ER Exhibit 3
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Letter from Dorothy Parker, Spanish Refugee Appeal.
51 2h communist activities in alien and national groups
HuBEE Exhibit 3
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COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 512l
HucER Exhibit 3
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51 2j COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
HUBER Exhibit 3
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COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 512k
HUBER Ex II 1 1
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Letter I'rom Barbara Aroiisou, Jefferson School of Soci
.512l communist activities in alien and national groups
HUBER Exhibit 3
III iiiiiiw immi ./\74.«>/^fc^^
A '
Letter from Regina Wilson, Jefferson School of Social Science.
COA'IMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 513
The party is given the status of a legal political party, similar to
the Democratic and Republican Parties, is permitted to nominate
candidates and place them on election ballots. In New York City, the
council contains two elected Communists, while a number of other
jDast or present councilmen are known to be closely tied up with the
party.
The mistake this country is making by allowing them such free-
dom is that we do not face the fact that the foremost allegiance of all
Conniiunists is to the Soviet Union. They prove this constantly by
continually denouncing and criticizing the United States and all its
policies, while at the same time revering the virtues and correctness of
all Soviet actions and policies.
There is no doubt in my mind but that, in a war involving the United
States and any foreign coinmunistically controlled country, the Com-
munist members in the armed forces in this country would actively
become foreign agents, utilizing every unprincipled and unscrupulous
means available to sabotage the defense of the United States.
Mr. Dekom. Are you familiar with the statement recently made
by the heads of Communist Parties in various western countries, in-
cluding the United States, concerning what they would do in the event
of a war between the United States or their own countries and the
Soviet Union ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes; that they owed their allegiance to Russia, and
that they would not fight for this country, because this country con-
sists of just a bunch of capitalists. At all of our meetings, it was,
"Stalin says this" and "Stalin says that; it must be right." It was
always Stalin and the Soviet Union.
Loyal Americans do not take the Communist Party seriously enough,
for they feel that it is but a minority party consisting of a small
membership and "it can't happen here."
While it is true that there is a yearly turn-over of thousands of
members, it must be emphasized that this does not mean these thou-
sands have renounced communism. They may no longer be dues-pay-
ing and registered party members, but they retain their homage and
allegiance to the principles of communism. This boosts the number
of Communist believers in this country up past the million mark, a
fact which the party is well aware of, but cleverly disguises in its
unceasing recruiting.
It is a misconception, which the party will not try to correct, but
-will rather try to increase, to have us believe that the Communist
Party is not as strong today as it was 10 years ago. The party is noc
only stronger, but it is growing steadily, by reason of the steady influx •
of members from communistically controlled labor unions, from for-
eign-language-speaking groups, from the theatrical and entertainment
fields, from veterans' groups, from the youth of America, from among
the Negro people, and from consumer and community groups. The
day-to-day recruiting of comrades has yielded the Communist Party
handsome dividends in increasing their numbers.
Cornrnunists have infiltrated into mass organizations and into civic
and citizens' groups. They were even instructed to move into the
American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. They hope,
work for, and expect some day to get their policies accepted and put
into action by these organizations.
514 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
In New York City they have organized tenants' leagues in every
community, and, on the basic and vital issues of housing, rents, and
landlords, have duped innocent people into joining and working for
the party.
In my close association with front organizations (excluding Com-
munist-controlled unions), which are used as transmission belts to
disseminate the party line, I have seen just how many people are beings
taken in and fooled by the innocence of front organizations. Fron^
organizations are formed by the party to publicize and campaign on
specific issues, and these issues can be traced back to the Communist
Party for their origin. They are one of the richest sources of re-
cruiting members into the party and collecting funds with which
the party can carry on campaigns.
The Communist fronts are increasing in number today, and can
boast of such well-known figures as Dashiell Hammett, Lillian Hell-
man, Dorothy Parker, Herman Shumlin, Norman Corwin, Harlow
Shapley, Ella Logan, Charlie Chaplin, Edward G. Kobinson, and Jolin
Garfield as just a few of the drawing cards which attract the general
public to their meetings and into eventually becoming members there.
Such meetings invariably revolve around Communist campaigns and
disseminate Communist-inspired propaganda.
In my opinion, these front organizations should be publicly exposed
and their danger, true nature, make-up, and origin shown for what
they really are.
In the field of education, there are a few hundred members of the
Connnunist Party who are teaching the children of New York City
in our public schools. The party realizes, more than do most Amer-
icans, that it is in the schools and by teaching youngsters the Com-
munist distortions of history and the principles of revolution, that
they have their ripest fields for propaganda and future members.
That they are correct in this ISIarxist realization is more than proven
by the numbers of students who join students' leagues and youth or-
ganizations controlled by Communists.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Did you yourself become well known in Communist
Party circles ?
Mr. HuBER. I did. I was present at so many meetings, and served
drinks at so many others, that I got to be known by hundreds of party
members. As a matter of fact, Mr. Schroeder, I made it a special point
to be conspicuous, because I wanted to be well known in party circles
so that I could get as much information and get to know as many
members as possible. I made it my job. It was the best way I knew
of carrying out my assiirnment for ithe Government.
Mr. "Dekom. Did you get to know top officials of the party?
Mr. HuBER. Yes ; in the same way. I even got to know the drinking
habits of the party leaders. Paul Kobeson, for example, used to like
the way I mixed rum and coke for him and he would often come over
to me, after a Communist Party meeting, and thank me for the drinks
I had made for him.
Mr. Dekom. How higli did you get in attending party meetings, to
which levels of party authority ?
Mr. HuBER, To ail levels, cit,y, State, and national. As a matter of
fact, I was one of the few people to ever sit in on a meeting of the
National Committee of the Communist Party.
COIVCVIUISriST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 515
Mr. Dekom. Isn't that one of the most secret meetings of the party
high command?
Mr. HuBER. Yes; it certainlj^ is.
Mr. Dekom. How did you happen to get in on that meeting?
Mr. HuBER. I knew the guard at the door, and he was a good friend
of mine in the party, and he did not question me when I walked into
the meeting. That was one of the chief advantages that I gained from
becoming so well known in party circles, I was often able to attend
closed meetings to which I was not supposed to come, but I got in
anyway and nobody questioned me.
Mr. Dekom. Because of the secrecy and importance attached to the
meeting of the national committee, I want you to give us as detailed a
report on the meeting as you can reconstruct from your memory and
your notes.
Mr. HuBER. This was the meeting of the national committee of the
Communist Party at the Albert Hotel, on November 15, 1945.
The entire national committee was present, having come from all
over the United States. This particular meeting was one of the most
important meetings of the party and was attended by the top leader-
ship.
The meeting was opened by Saul Wellman, who made the following
speech :
Leadership is an important thing. In the main, our party has a strong and
healthy leadership, but some bad and negative features have been noted. We
have carried over many people about whom we know too little, exactly who
they are, how they make their living, their union connections, activities, and
so forth. We must complete the review of them rapidly. Residence committee
members have started to go out into the districts to acquaint themselves with
the details there. We are bringing many new problems closer to the com-
mittee— how our enemies are working in the party.
The committee interested itself in the case of Comrade Donchin in Phil-
adelphia. He had presented charges against Comrade [Eugene] Dennis for
slander and character violation. Our review committee heard Donchin and
rendered the opinion that it was his intent to weaken the party. The com-
mittee characterized Comrade Donchin's behavior as arrogant, and decided to
dismiss these charges against Comrade Dennis by Comrade Donchin on the
ground that his charges were not solely against Dennis, but were against every
member of the board. This is just one example of the upsurge of weak leader-
ship during the period of revisionism, but the leadership has been taken away
from the groups trying to cause trouble. In addition, we have noted a number
of serious problems in Chicago and Detroit. We have had to correct corruption
among some of our trade-union comrades. We know there are operating in our
midst enemy forces, such as the FBI, Government intelligence agents, foreign
government agents, who are attempting to turn the people against our interests.
Regarding the case of Sam Darcy, this was turned over to the review commit
sion. They called upon Comrade Darcy to appear before them for a hearing
sending him two letters. To the first letter we got no response; to the second
letter, we received a polite response saying that at this time he was not interested
in returning to the party. I believe we should tnhle this matter at present.
One of the things which must be corrected is the keeping in many offices ol
party lists, names, and address records. This is not a good procedure, becaust
we do not know too much about some of the comrades who are being broughl
into our movement. Many have been accepted as party members and elected
to office solely on the basis of having been a veteran of the Spanish Civil Wai
and of this war, and no further background investigation has been made.
Another thing, there is too mucli gossiping and rumoring going on, with com-
rades talking too freely. There must be a general tightening "up all around
The struggle to preserve the unity of the party cannot be stressed too strongly
516 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
In the main, the old leadership was connected with the Browder line, but it
no longer holds today. New leadership must be scrutinized and weighed. There-
must be greater sensitivity of members of the party on the question of leadership.
We still find too much dissatisfaction in the ranlis of the party. We must estab-
lish and maintain prestige with the working class. Budenz and people of his
type must be removed.
There must be refreshing of the leadership and the execution of a policy of
very careful fusing of the old and new. This question of comrades being without
assignments of party work must be taken care of immediately. It has been over
3 montlis since the convention — too long for it to have dragged on, especially
when there is urgent need for every shoulder being put to the wheel, when every
comrade should be at work.
A considerable number of the membership was not reached with the decisions
of the convention. Some are still not aware of the question of [Earl] Browder
and why we rejected revisionism ; also, what is disturbing, in a number of dis-
tricts we do not know who the people are who voted against our resolution.
There is not a full appreciation of the fact that enemies are working within our
ranks. There are serious leaks in our organization. Stories have appeared in
the capitalistic press which show there are leaks. The work of tlie Trotskyites
lias been most energetic in the last few years, but we feel that whatever inroads
they have made we will be able to smash. However, in the last 2 years there
have been no exposures of known Trotskyites, although there are definite indi-
cations tliat there are some working within our party. They are trying to asso-
ciate themselves with mass questions on which they were delinquent in the past.
They have made great progress among the Negroes in Detroit and Chicago. It
appears that Detroit is becoming the national point of Trotskyites. There is
a greater flood of their printed material than at any other period. Their first
concentration is New York ; second, Los Angeles ; third, Detroit ; fourth, Chicago ;
and fifth, Philadelphia. They have organizations in most of the important indus-
ti'ial cities in the United States and their activities are increasing in the concen-
tration points. At no time in the past has there ever existed such a liberal
attitude toward Trotskyites as at this time. Some of our comrades cannot recog-
nize the antiworking, anti-Soviet sentiments of the Trotskyites and great danger
lies here — we must expose this danger before more damage is inflicted to our
party.
Our next problem is the police, the FBI, and the intelligence agents active in
the party. Here, too, are sufiiciently concrete indications in New York, Chicago,
and Detroit that should make us vigilant of this problem and increase our
efforts to drive them out. The most effective method for making it extremely
diflicult and impossible to work within the ranks of the party is to create basic
vigilance in the party, to fight to know as much as possible about all the com-
rades, down to the newest rank and file members.
Gossip and rumor must be stopped. Such matters as require discipline and
action should be brought before responsible party committees. Police agents
and the FBI have representatives all over — maybe these walls have ears, even
here, too. The luncheonette at Twelfth Street and University Place is a spot
where anyone can pick up information which should be kept to ourselves. Im-
mediately after the business of Budenz,' there was a hell of a lot of talk going
on there — this must be stopped.
What is necessary is that our leadership and the membership must become
sensitive to these problems. Our party has always been an example for or-
ganization and work. We must fight now to really make it such — to meet the
struggle ahead.
Wlien Wellman concluded I left the room in order not to draw any
suspicion on me. The meeting went on for 2 days altogether.
Mr. Dekom. I notice in Wellman's speech that he expresses concern
over the presence of FBI and intelligence agents in the party. Weren't
you at that time an undercover agent of the FBI ?
Mr. HuBER. I certainly was. Wellman would have been very un-
happy to know that. I hope he reads this.
Mr. Dekom. Approximately, how many members were in the
Connolly branch of the Communist Party?
> For the testimony of Louis Budenz, see p. 217.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 517
Mr. HuBER. There were 330 members in the James Connolly Branch.
Mr. Dekom. Can you give us the names of any of these persons who
were in your branch of the Communist Party, the Connolly Branch?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, I have a partial list of the names and addresses
of members of the Connolly Branch which I would like to read. I
will be glad to submit additional names for the record.
Mr. Dekom. Go ahead please.
Mr. Huber. Following is the list of names and addresses of mem-
bers of the Eleventh assembly district, Communist Party, known as
the James Connolly Branch, located at 2744 Broadway, New York
City:
Gladys Alstadt, 150 West Ninety-fifth Street
Edbert Anderson, 417 West One Hundred and Eighteenth Street
Aza Bard, 150 West One Hundred and Sixth Street
Phil Bard, 150 West One Hundred and Sixth Street
Eva Belloch, 514 West One Hundred and Tenth Street
Augusta Berler, 411 West One Hundred and Fourteenth Street
Oscar Berler, 411 West One Hundred and Fourteenth Street
Harriet Black, 210 West One Hundred and Seventh Street
Anna Bloom, 4500 Broadway
Harry Bloom, 4500 Broadway
Sarah Bloom, 107 West One Hundred and Sixth Street
Betty Betowin, 65 West One Hundred and Sixth Street
Hertz Bourgln-Gordon. 248 West One Hundred and Fifth Street
Lillian Bi'andon, 420 Riverside Drive
Christine Brown, 61 West One Hundred and Fifth Street
James Brown, 61 West One Hundred and Fifth Street
Amy Castle, 301 West One Hundred and Eighth Street
Aurora Carter, 485 Central Park West
Gus Collins, 536 West One Hundred and Eleventh Street
Fanny Cooper, 201 West One Hundred and Eighth Street
Minnie Cooper, 562 West One Hundred and Thirteenth Street
Robert De Saulmier, 318 West One Hundred and Fifth Street
Rebecca Discant, 533 West One Hundred and Twelfth Street
Frances Drake, in care of Dora Kurtz, 62 West Ninety-third Street
Ethel Ellis, 13 West One Hundred and Sixth Street
Fred Ellis. 13 West One Hundred and Sixth Street
Miriam E^dns. 310 West Ninety-third Street
Allan Folk. 629 West One Hundred and Fifteenth Street
Helen Fox. 600 West One Hundred and Eleventh Street
Harry P. Friedman, 508 West One Hundred and Fourteenth Street
Manny Gale. 77 West One Hundred and Fourth Street
Mary Gale, 77 West One Hundred and Fourth Street
Pearl Glauberman. 433 Central Park West
Anna Glembot, 14 West One Hundred and Seventh Street
Stella Glembot. 14 West One Hundred and Seventh Street
Esther Goldman, in care of F. Kopf, 1800 Seventh Avenue
Bella Goldway, 467 Central Park West
Julius Goldway. 467 Central Park West
Tillie Goldway. 467 Central Park West
Eda Goodwin. 120 West One Hundred and Fifth Street
Sonia Gordon. 532 West One Hundred and Thirteenth Street
Luba Green, in care of Bertha M'Uer. 467 Central Park West
Renee Gross, 448 Central Park West
Joel Gutman. 110 West Ninety-fourth Street
Graf'e Hanover, 415 Central Park West
Rutb Hickerson. .506 West One Hundred and Thirteenth Street
Joe Hiffbkin. 58 West One Hundred and Fifth Street
Louise Hovt. in en re of Devine. 161 Manhattan Avenue
Sonnv Jobe. 138 West O'^^ Hundred and Fourth Street
Cora .Jordan, in care of Zara Shakow, 910 West End Avenue
^thr-l .Tui'i°t. 375 "Rlvprside Drivf^
Dorothy rs:a.'2;an. 53 West Fifty-sixth Street
518 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Sanders Kastenbaum, 350 West One Hundred and Tenth Street
Sylvia Katz, 420 Central Park West
Sara Kaye, care of Reynolds, 418 West One Hundred and and Sixteenth Street
Jean Kling, 2115 Davidson Avenue
Paul Klot, care of Wolf, 532 West One Hundred and Eleventh Street
Fanny Kopf, 1800 Seventh Avenue
Irene Kraft, 102 West One Hundred and Third Street ,
Lillian Kramer, 51 Manhattan Avenue
Kay Lascelle, 50 West One Hundred and Sixth Street
Basha Lessin, 65 West One Hundred and Sixth Street
Harry Lessin, 65 West One Hundred and Sixth Street
Sophie Levine, 885 West End Avenue
Bertha Levowe, 66 West One Hundred and Seventh Street
Margaret Lipkin, 587 Riverside Drive
Elsie Machauer, 840 West End Avenue
Blanche Margolies, 51 Manhattan Avenue
Hortense Marks, 315 West One Hundred and Sixth Street
Alice Martin, 300 Riverside Drive
Allan Max, 14 West One Hundred and Seventh Street
Ellen Max, 14 West One Hundred and Seventh Street
Marge Clark Messner, 629 West One Hundred and Fifteenth Street
Anna Miller, 865 West End Avenue
Charlotte Muller, 150 West One Hundred and Sixth Street
Anita Newman, 312 West One Hundred and Ninth Street
Marion Oberstein, 485 Central Park West
Bessie Oches, 45 Tieman Place
Maria Olinsky, 210 West Twenty-first Street
Ruth Orme, 404 West One Hundred and Sixteenth Street
Janice Paneth, 501 West One Hundred and Thirteenth Street
Danny Persell, 51 Manhattan Avenue
Pauline Persell, 51 Manhattan Avenue
Mary Peterson, 545 West One Hundred and Eleventh Street
Victoria Peterson, 545 West One Hundred and Eleventh Street
Sarah Panis, 120 West One Hundred and Fifth Street
Natalie Pressman, 403 West 57th Street
Beatrice Ratowsky, 33 Manhattan Avenue
Harry Rnymond, care of Perlman, 488 Central Pai-k West
Elizabeth Rigrod, 314 West One Hundredth Street
Paula Robinson, 299 Riverside Drive
Ray Rosen, 255 West 95th Street
Sydney Rowen, 299 Riverside Drive
Agnes Sailor, 50 West One Hundi-ed and Sixth Street
Mary Schaier, 385 Central Park West
Helen Schneider, 381 Central Park West
Sonia Schneider, 321 West One Hundred and Third Street
Sylvia Schwartz, 467 Central Park West
Frances Sheiner, 526 West One Hundred and Thirteenth Street
Max Sheiner, 526 West One Hundred and Thirteenth Street
Gertrude Smith, 449 East Eightieth Street
Norma Smith, 600 West One Hundred and Eleventh Street
Ruth Smith, 316 West One Hundred and Twelfth Street
Virginia Stern, 50 Manhattan Avenue
Dan Sullivan. 146 West One Hundred Street
Mary Brown Urgenia, 125 West One Hundred and Sixth Street
Emanuel Vomcas, 519 AVest One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Street
Sara Walsky, 515 West One Hundred and Eleventh Street
Ann Weisman, 548 West One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Street
Herman Weinblat, 78 Manhattan Avenue
Dorothy West, 533 West One Hundred and Twelfth Street
Ann Wharton, 536 West One Hundred and Thirteenth Street
Regina Wilson, 320 West Eighty-Third Street
Frances Witlin, 6 West One Hundred and Seventh Street
Raymond Witlin. 6 West One Hundred and Seventh Street
Adolf Wolf. 532 West One Hundred and Eleventh Street
Grace Woodruff, 307 West One Hundred and Fifth Street
Terry Woodruff, 307 West One Hundred and Fifth Street
Irving Zimmerman, 2115 Davidson Avenue
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 519
Mr. Dekom. Did you become well acquainted with the members of
your branch?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, I did. It was part of my job to study the people,
their way of thinking, their characteristics, and their attitudes. I
made the most detailed reports possible on every member of my party
unit, includiuj^ their appearances and their character.
Mr. Dekom. Who were some of the persons who served on the
executive committee of the Connolly Branch of the Communist Party ?
Mr. HuBER. These are the names, as of 1944 :
Bernard Weller, chairman, 2.50 West One Hundred and Third Street
Beatrice Weiss, executive secretary, 110 West One Hundredth Street
Valerie Robinson, education director, 323 West One Hundred and Twelfth Street
Amy Castle, financial secretary, 201 West One Hundred and Third Street
Florence Sharp, legislative director, 254 West One Hundred and Third Street
Sara Ornstein, membership director, 230 West One Hundred and Fifth Street
Stephanie Iliedel, recording secretary, 429 East Seventy-ninth Street
Agnes Sailor, vpar activities director, 50 West One Hundred and Sixth Street
Aaron Harris, press director, 65 West One Hundred and Sixth Street
Sarah Stein, literature director, 1240 Parli Avenue
Archie Maskin, labor director, 925 West End Avenue
On Friday, February 15, 194(), the following were nominated and
elected for the execittive committee of the James Connolly Branch :
Harold Hieherson, president
Betty Aiken, membership director
Manny Gale, educational and literature director
Mary Sharp, executive secretary
Lena Cohen, treasurer
Sarah Stein, press director
Mr. Dekom. Were any of the members of your branch of the Com-
munist Party Government employees?
Mr. HuBER. Yes; a Mrs. Penny M. Patt, who was a member of the
executive committee at Unity Center Branch, 2744 Broadway. My
notes of March 30, 1945, reflect that she was recruited into the party
by Goldie Young and that she immediately devoted all of her spare
time to party work. As a reward for her work, she was elected to the
position of literature director. She was employed at that time in the
finance department of the Army regional accounting office, located at
63 Vesey Street, New York City. She was about 24 years of age at
tliat time.
Mr. Dekom. Can you give us examples of the activities and work of
some of the officers or members of vour branch of the Conmiunist
Party?
Mr. HuBER. Manny Gale and his wife, Mary Gale, are both mem-
bers of the Unity Center Branch of the^Communist Party. He resides
at 84 Manhattan Avenue. Gale is called upon by the comity com-
mittee. Communist Party, to go to clubs where a member is being
ousted, in order to take photographs of the comrade being expelled.
Elizabeth (Betty) Aiken was the membership director of the Unity
Center Branch, and resided at 30 West One Hundred and Fifth Street,
New York City. She formerly worked in the office of her brother-in-
law, John J. Anthony, the radio counsellor, 347 Madison Avenue.
She left this employment on January 15, 1945, and worked for the
Jefferson School of Social Science for 2 months. After that, she was
employed by Consolidated Management Consultants, 521 Fifth Ave-
nue, on March 20, as a stenographer and typist. She obtained this
98330— 50— pt. 2 5
520 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
position through the United Office and Professional Workers Unions
of which she is a member. Speaking to me about her job, she said
the majority of employees of Consolidated Management Consultants
are Communist Party members. ^
Mr. Dekom. Before you go on, would you identify the Jefferson
School of Social Science?
Mr. HuBER. It is the leading Communist school, teachnig Commu-
nist doctrine.
Mr. Dekom. To what extent do aliens and foreign-bom persons con-
trol the Communist Party?
Mr. HuBER. In my contact with members of the Communist Party,
I have learned that a majority of the executives, on a national. State,
city, and community level, are aliens or foreign-born people who have
become cittizens of the United States. They have not become citizens
in order to work for the general welfare of all our people or to provide
for our common defense ; they have not contributed to the growth or
preservation of our democratic form of government ; instead, they have
used every weapon, fair and unfair means, to undermine our Govern-
ment and our way of life, particularly exercising their constitutional
rights as American citizens. I believe these people should be deprived
of their citizenship and deported from this country.
The Communist Party concentrates on organizing persons of foreign
origin, and they constitute a large number in the party, particularly
in large cities. One point of concentration is among the people of
the Slavic nationalities engaged in heavy and basic industries. At one
time, all other organizational activity virtually ceased to concentrate
on heavy and basic industries. We received special orders from party
headquarters to do so, late in 1944 and early in 1945.
Mr. Dekom. Mr. Huber, are there a large number of aliens in the
Communist Party of the United States ?
Mr. Huber. Yes, sir, a very large proportion are aliens. In my
party branch, there were at least 70 percent aliens or foreign-born
persons.
Mr. Schroeder. That is the American Communist Party ?
Mr. Huber. That is right.
Mr. Dekom. Has any effort been made by the party to cover that
fact up ?
Mr. Huber. Yes. The alien Communist Party members were di-
rected not to come to meetings, but to keep paying their dues and to
take instructions in order to obtain their citizenship. The instructions
were given by Communist public school teachers in New York.
Mr. Dekom. Do you mean instructions to alien Communists on how
to obtain citizenship in the United States ?
Mr. Huber. That is right. Most of them did receive their citizen-
ship.
Mr. Dekom. Does the Communist Party maintain any educational
facilities for the indoctrination of new immigrants ?
Mr. Huber. Yes, this is a very important part of their work, recruit-
ing of party members from among immigrants. I know, for example,
that the Jefferson School of Social Science gave special classes for
immigrants. A good deal of work in this field was done by the Amer-
ican Committee for the Protection of Foreign Born, a very well-known
Communist-front organization. This committee even provided teach-
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 521
ers for groups of willing immigrants who could be gotten together at
any Communist Party branch. They would send teachers to do the
indoctrination without any cost to the party.
Mr. Dekom. What Communist Party activities have come to your
knowledge in relation to getting aliens and others who are unqualified
to vote ?
Mr. HuBER. The Communist teachers within the teachers' union
volunteered at election time to appear at all schools in New York City
to give literacy tests to the alien element. Whether those people
actually passed the tests or not, they were passed on through.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Do you mean that these teachers appeared as ex-
aminers for the election authorities, and then passed people through
regardless of whether or not they were literate ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes; regardless of whether or not they were literate.
Those teachers were members of the Communist Party. They volun-
teered for that activity. Teachers are used by the election authorities
and these Communists volunteered for the work.
Mr. Dekom. Were they successful in qualifying many aliens as
voters ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes; everj^one who appeared before them was passed.
Mr. Dekom. Of whom did these groups consist ?
Mr. HuBER. Largely Puerto Ricans and Spanish people. The
majority of them were Puerto Ricans.
Mr. Dekom. They could not read or write English, and the way
they circumvented the election law was by fraudulently passing liter-
acy tests with the collusion of Communist teachers from New York
schools.
Mr. HuBER. That is right.
Mr. Dekom. Can you name any teacher who participated in this
fraudulent activity ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes ; Rhetta Friedman of Hunter College.
Mr. Dekom. To your knowledge, is she a member of the Communist
Party?
Mr. Htjber. Positively.
Mr. Dekom. Will you discuss the tactics that the Communist Party
used in propagandizing minority groups and nationality groups ?
Mr. HuBER. Well, the Communist Party technique is the same one
that they always use in working among any groups of people, includ-
ing minorities and nationalities. They seize any pretext to propa-
gandize minority groups and to undermine or discredit the Govern-
ment or existing institutions. Their most common tactic is to pose
as the friend and champion of the aliens or foreign-born, just as they
try to pose as champions of any group in order to make their propa-
ganda reach an audience.
By way of illustration, let me cite to you the weekly meeting of the
teamster branch, waterfront section of the Communist Party, Tues-
day, March 18, 1941, at 48 East Twenty-ninth Street, New York.
After the meeting was called to order, all comrades wrote letters to
their Senators and Congressmen, demanding that they defeat the
Hobbs "concentration camp bill." Sam (Kappy) Kaplan, organizer
of the waterfront section of the Communist Party, said we should
stress in the letters that such a law would be a deliberate attack on
the civil rights of all foreign-born Americans. We were also in-
522 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
structed to ask our representatives in Congress to ignore the proposal
of Attorney General Robert Jackson that there should be a law
providing for a concentration camp.
I can give you a number of these illustrations from the record of
the party.
Mr. Dekom, I wish you would, Mr. Huber. This phase of the
investigation is one of the most important questions before the sub-
committee. Please discuss the question in full.
Mr. Huber. Another illustration I can give you is a Communist
Party mass meeting held for the Irish people of the third and fifth
assembly districts of the waterfront section on Thursday, February 29,
1940. According to Charles Keith, who was chairman, the meeting
was called to denounce the murders of Barnes and Eichards, tw^o IRA.
men executed in Birmingham, England. As you will see from the
tone of the meeting, this was just another one of the pretexts that the
Communists used to get an audience for their party line. Keith was
followed by Pauline Rogers, organizer of the Communist Party in the
third and fifth assembl}^ districts. (I might say that she had a very
good record as an organizer after conducting a house-to-house canvass
over a 2-month period, to recruit new members.) She spoke about
National Women's Day which was to be celebrated on March 8.
Mrs. Mary Noonan, accompanied by her daughter Mary at the
piano, sang Irish songs in which the audience joined.
Henry Winston (colored), national leader of the Young Communist
League, compared the difficulties of the Irish people with those of the
African Negroes, saying that both were being suppressed and mis-
treated by the British Empire, He spoke so logically that the au-
dience appeared willing to accept his opinions. He denounced Presi-
dent Rooseveh for condoning most anything Chamberlain ^ did against
the Irish people. He discussed the Soviet Union, saying that when
the Germans invaded Poland and committed their atrocities, it had
been the Soviet Union who stopped them by taking over part of
Poland ; that the Polish people had welcomed the Soviet troops, which
was not the case when Germany had invaded Poland. In conclusion,
Winston said that the only people who sympathized with and fought
for the Irish were Communists, who would continue their fight as
never before. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn of the national committee spoke,
referring to her Irish ancestry, saying that she was a direct descendant
of two martyred Irish revolutionists who died in an uprising in the
eighteenth century. She said that Britain had always hanged Irish-
men when entering a war, because the Irish always refused to partici-
pate in imperialist wars. She urged that Irish Americans fight against
British imperialism and for the freedom of Ireland by keeping the
United States out of the war. She also said that Wall Street propa-
ganda was trying to draw America into the war on the side of Cham-
berlain and the Finnish butcher, Baron Mannerheim.- She said that
people were being misled by the capitalist press, which lied about the
facts concerning religion in Russia. She spoke about a Catholic priest
who had gone to Russia and who then had a big congregation, as proof
that there was religion in Russia today.
1 Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of Great Britain.
'Baron Knrl G. Mannerheim, commander of the Finnish armies fightine the Soviet
Invasion of 1940.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 523
Another instance in which the Communist Party used a minority
group for its propaganda was a meeting on March 15, 1940, held at
Public School 43, One Hundred and Thirty-Sixth Street and Brown
Place in the Bronx.
Mr. Dekom. Is that a public school of the city of New York?
Mr. HuBER. Yes; it is.
The meeting was held by the Elizabeth Gurley Flynn branch of the
Communist Party and the chairman was Kate Fredericks. Pat
Touhey, a member of national committee, spoke of Britain's bitter op-
pression of Ireland during the last eight centuries. He assailed the
de Valera ^ govermnent as a stooge of British imperialism. He related
a story of an old Irisliman, living in his home town in Pennsylvania,
who stopped him one day and said that he was confused about the
situation between the Reds and Finland at first, but "when I read in
the papers about Hoover wanting to help Mannerheim, I figured I
better get on the side that Hoover was against." Touhey concluded
by saying that the best way to help Ireland was to keep the United
States out of war, which could best be done by writing the President
and their Congressmen, asking them to keep this country out of war.
Mrs. Mary Noonan and her daughter again sang Irish songs, in
which the audience was asked to join. This was the same Mrs. Noonan,
introduced at this meeting as a "neighbor," who was introduced as a
"neighbor" in the Chelsea district at another Communist rally in that
Fredericks announced that members of the committee would circu-
late in the audience with slips of paper and anyone interested in know-
ing about the Communist Party should sign the slips, which the com-
mittee immediately collected and returned to the chairman. She said
that the people who did not sign these slips were invited to attend
regular Communist Party meetings at 631 East One Hundred and
Forty-first Street, every Monday night.
The principal speaker was Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, who opened with
the announcement that she was not a stranger in that section but was
well acquainted ; that she had come here from Massachusetts and was
raised at One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Street and St. Anne Avenue.
Flynn had said the same thing at a Chelsea meeting, where she told
of being raised at Twenty-third Street and Ninth Avenue. She spoke
of her association with Connolly and of their joint work in organizing
the Irish in this section. She told of the danger to civil rights and
the attacks on the Communist Party, comparing them with her own
experiences during World War I when the Government had arrested
her. She assailed the drive of American warmongers and their at-
tempt to silence the voice of Earl Browder, because it was the loudest
raised against United States participation in the war. She said that
if there were any party to which the Irish people should belong it
was the Communist Party. When speaking about religion in Russia,
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn said it was a false rumor that the Catholic
Church was not allowed in Russia. She said that in Moscow there
was a Catholic Church with a very large congregation, and various
Catholic churches were to be found throughout the rest of that coun-
try. She denounced the de Valera government, which contrasted
1 Eamon de Valera, Prime Minister of Ireland.
524 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
sharply with her former speech in the Chelsea district where she had
praised the de Valera government. Concluding, Flynn asked if
there were any questions from the audience. One man asked why she
had not mentioned Eamon de Valera, who he believed had done much
for Ireland. She apologized, saying she was sorry but that she had
skipped over it because she was working against time. She said she
knew personally how much he had done for Ireland in the way of
education, housing, etc. A woman asked for the floor, saying she was
of Irish extraction, born in Scotland, and that "the Irish people don't
want the Communist Party, have no need for the hammer and sickle,
and what they really want is the cross." Flynn answered, "It is
not for the purpose of trying to form a Communist Party in Ireland,
for they already have one there, but to show we are giving them our
moral support." During Flynn's and Touhey's speeches, they were
loudly booed, but the police evicted the hecklers and the meeting
continued.
These meetings were part of the drive at that time to bring Irish
people into the Communist Party. They needed Irish people for show
purposes. In August 1941, all sections of the Communist Party were
instructed by the State commission to get their membership to contact
as many Irish Catholics as possible, in an effort to recruit them into
the party. The reason for this was because a vast number of promi-
nent members of the Catholic Church were expressing their approval
of all-out aid to the Soviet Union. The Communist Party felt that
such utterances by well-known Catholic laymen would cause people to
listen more readily to the comrades.
Irish Catholics are the only people the party had had difficulty in
recruiting in numbers into the ranks. This was the opportunity the
Communist Party had been waiting for, to make inroads into the Irish
masses, as every other plan to recruit Irish Catholics had failed due to
the incessant attacks made by the Catholic Church on the Communist
Party. As soon as anyone joined the party, it was the duty of the
recruiting comrade to break the hold of the church on him. This
was done with caution and often required a long period of time in
order not to arouse any suspicion.
My association and teachings received from the Communist Party
lead me to believe it is the desire of every Communist Party member
to see the Catholic Church destroyed. They made good use of the
strained relations between England, which was at war with Germany
at the time, and Ireland, which insisted on remaining neutral, so that
Irish sympathy in this country was used and Irish antagonism to the
British was stirred up.
The concentration on the Irish element was also evident from a
party at the home of Margaret McLean, Saturday, July 19, 1941, at
418 West Twentieth Street. About 60 people were present. The
purpose of the party was to interest guests in becoming active in a
campaign to increase subscriptions to a newspaper called Shamrock.
Most of the guests were not members of the party, but had been
brought together by Irish members of the water-front section through
a house-to-house canvass with this paper.
McLean told me that it was hoped by the party that a large circu-
lation for the Shamrock could be obtained to help break the grip
of the Catholic Church on their Irish-American members. I believe
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 525
the majority of these people were unaware of the true plans behind
this campaign. Each person was to be handled individually until
he or she became familiar with and accepted the principles of com-
munism. Mrs. McLean was a recent arrival from the west coast,
where she had taught philosophy at a girls' college. Since coming
to New York, she had become very active at the water-front section.
An appeal to the German minority in New York occurred on
Wednesday, April 16, 1941. It was a "JFree Ernst Thaelmann Rally,"
held at the Mecca Temple, Fifty-fifth Street between Sixth and Sev-
enth Avenues, with Al Lannon as chairman. George Lohr, organizer
of the German section, Communist Party in Yorkville,^ speaking with
a thick German accent, stated that the Social Democrats of this coun-
try had formed an organization whose purpose was to bring into its
ranks all workers of German descent. The initiation fee to join this
Social Democratic organization was $1, for which members received
a large white button which, it was said, eliminated the holder from
persecution by agents of the FBI. This caused much hilarity in the
audience. Lohr concluded by noting that the German working class
was joining the Communist Party in large numbers.
William Z. Foster, chairman of the Communist Party and principal
speaker, discussed the German Communist Party, and how the capital-
ists were working to suppress the workers as though they had previ-
ously rehearsed their plans :
But war or the jailing of Communist leaders will not save their decaying
capitalistic system. Hitler thought he could destroy the Communist Party by
jailing Thaelmann, and now Roosevelt thinks he can do the same by jailing Earl
Browder. Both have yet to learn, and what a sad lesson it will be to discover
how mistaken they are.
On Tuesday, September 7, 1943, an executive meeting was called by
the upper West Side section of the Communist Party. All executive
committee of the seventh, ninth, and eleventh assembly district clubs
were present; Goldie Young presided; Abe Chapman was the princi-
pal speaker. The meeting was called to make plans for a campaign to
get the Jewish membership of the Communist Party to join mass Jew-
ish organizations for the purpose of changing and formulating the
policies of the American Jewish Congress. Chapman said that the
Communist Party presently had no voice in that organization, but
that if our comrades joined mass Jewish organizations, it should not
be long before the policy of the Communist Party could make itself
felt.
Mr. Dekom. We will now suspend, Mr. Huber, until tomorrow.
FEIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1949
Mr. Dekom. You made the statement, Mr. Huber, that in your
many years of work with the Communist Party you took an active part
in the* Communist Party's network of front organizations.
Mr. Huber. Yes, sir ; that is true. I have attended dozens of front
meetings. I knew from the inside that they were Communist Party
fronts. It was discussed in party meetings and we were given assign-
ments to work with the fronts through the party. In other cases, I
was able to know about the nature of fronts from the people who took
1 Torkville is the German section of New York City.
526 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
the leadership. I kiiew them as party members. I had worked with
them and had seen them at party meetings.
Mr. Dekom. On the basis of your knowledge, would you identify*
the Communist Party's fronts which are most actively and most exten-
sively working among aliens, nationality, and foreign-language groups
in the United States ?
Mr. HuBER. There are two that have been most active : The Inter-
national Workers Order and the American Slav Congress. There were
a few others, like the United Committee of South Slavic Americans,
the American Committee for Yugoslav Relief, the Hungarian-Ameri-
can Council for Democracy, and others. These are not as important
on an over-all basis, but, of course, if you put them all together, they
make up a sizable network.
There are two others that I would like to mention: the American
Committe for the Protection of Foreign Born and the Joint Anti-
Fascist Refugee Committee. These two Communist Party fronts are
not directly in the business of organizing, but are working to support
and defend alien and foreign-born Communists.
Mr. Dekom. How would you class the Veterans of the Abraham
Lincoln Brigade in this connection?
Mr. HuBER. Well, I think that they might be classed as being part of,
or at least, having a close connection with, the alien and foreign-born
Communist movement. This front had many aliens and foreign-
born in it and it also worked among Spanish Communists. It is not
exclusively a nationality front like the American Slav Congress, but
it worked closely in connection with alien Communists, particularly
those who were involved in the Spanish revolution.
Mr. Dekom. We would like to get more details on this subject.
First of all, would you, please, discuss the American Slav Congress?
Mr. HuBER. All right. As I have already explained, the Communist
Party's high command ordered us to concentrate on foreign-language
groups late in 1944 and early in 1945. We were ordered to concentrate
in this field. As a matter of fact, we almost came to a standstill in
other fields. As we were told, the purpose of this concentration was
to get Communist Party units and Communist Party fronts set up in
the industrial sections of the country. This was to be, and is con-
sidered to be, one of the stfongholds of the Communist movement.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Why was this concentration in industrial areas?
Mr. HuBER. The purpose was, of course, to have a powerful party
hold where they could do the most damage to the United States. In
industrial areas, they could organize and lead very damaging strikes,
strikes that could ruin us. Then, in case of war with Russia, they
could break down our war production, our ability to make armaments,
both by strikes or slow-downs and by sabotage. It is a very dangerous
situation, which has to be controlled or there will be serious trouble
for us.
That, you see, is why the Communist Party ordered us to work
among foreign-born people, particularly the Slavs. They make up a
large percentage of the workers in industrial areas. The job of organ-
izing them was made easier by the fact that so many could not speak
or read English properly and the Communists sent in organizers who
spoke their language and knew their ways. The organizers were
experts in rousing the foreign-language people against this country
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 527
and against our Government. Then, tliey had very active foreign-
language papers which were controlled by the Communist Party. In
Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, New York, and many other industrial
cities, the party controlled foreign-language newspapers, which were
very effective in indoctrinating foreign-born elements.
The American Slav Congress was the central organization of the
Communist Party among Slavs, especially those in industrial sections.
Although it didn't originally start out as a party organization, it was
infiltrated from the very beginning. Some of the top party organ-
izers took part in the setting up of the American Slav Congress and,
in short order, following their well-developed tactics, they took over
completely. They just infiltrated until the whole organization was
theirs, a Communist Party front, completely controlled and dominated
by the party.
Mr. Dekom. In September 1046 the American Slav Congress held
its third national convention in New York. Did you attend any of
its sessions?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, I did. I attended the so-called Kally to Win the
Peace on September 22, 1946.
Mr. Dekom. Can you describe the meeting to us? Can you give a
report on what transpired ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, I can ; not only from memory, but from my notes
that I took at the meeting.
Mr. Dekom. Let us establish one fact here. You yourself took notes
on the meeting which you are using to refresh your memory here ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, sir.
Mr. Dekom. That is fine. Please go ahead now.
Mr. HuBER. A rally to win the peace, sponsored by the Third Amer-
ican Slav Congress, was held at Madison Square Garden, with about
12.000 people attending. The cochairmen were Louis Adamic, author
of Dinner at the White House, and Leo Krzycki, president of the
American Slav Congress. Speakers included Father Frantisek Fiala,
of Czechoslovakia; Tsola Dragoicheva, secretary of the Bulgarian
Fatherland Front ; Prof. Timofei Gorbunov, Soviet deputv and execu-
tive minister of the Moscow All-Slav Committee; Gen. Karol Swier-
czewski, Polish Vice Minister of National Defense; Yugoslav Am-
bassador Sava Kosanovic; Polish Ambassador Oscar Lange; Soviet
Consul General Jacob Lomakin ; Paul Robeson, chairman of the Win
the Peace Committee ; William Gailmor, radio commentator ; Lawrence
Winters ; and Betty Garrett, of the Broadway hit. Call Me Mister.
The majority of the speakers spoke in their native tongues, which
were not translated into English for the audience. During the rally
the chairman read a message to the rally received from Joseph Stalin,
following which everyone present arose and demonstrated for about
5 minutes with the clenched-fist salute. This was one of the noisiest
demonstrntions I ever witnessed at the Garden.
Mr. Dekom. The clenched-fist salute is, of course, the salute of the
Communist Party.
Mr. Huber. Yes, sir.
The chairman of the Win-the-Peace Rally referred to Henry Wal-
lace as a true follower of the principles laid down by President
Roosevelt, which set off another demonstration. Adamic mentioned
the anti-Slav policy of Secretary of State Byrnes, who, he said, "ap-
528 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
pears to be hell-bent on making Joseph Goebbels' dream come true."'
Byrnes' name resulted in loud booing from the audience. Paul Robe-
son sang Song of the Fatherland and Hymn of the United Nations.
Mr. Dekom. Is the Song of the Fatherland a Soviet hymn ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, sir.
Robeson stated that America must get along with the Slavic people,
who are led by Communists in many parts of the world, and invited all
who could to participate in the American crusade against lynching.
William Gailmor made the collection speech, stating that every time
the Russians lose a diplomatic skirmish at Lake Success or Paris, they
win victories among the peoples of the world. This statement was
well received. During the collection, Betty Garrett turned in $300
collected from the cast of Call Me Mister; a pledge of $10,000 was
received from the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, with
$1,000 paid immediately and the remainder promised shortly. Ap-
proximately $20,000 was collected. The Jefferson School of Soda!
Science chorus sang songs, and folk dances were presented by the
Radishev and Volga dancers.
There were telegrams received from Senator Joseph B. GufFey, of
Pennsylvania, who begged off from attending because of illness. Con-
gratulatory messages were also received from Marshal Tito and George
iJimitrov of Bulgaria. There were several Russian generals among
the Soviet delegation. After Paul Robeson sang, he was warmly em-
braced and kissed on both cheeks by one of the Russian generals. In
conclusion, there were songs by Ivan Patorzhinsky and Zoya Haidai,
both of whom sing in the opera in the Soviet Union.
Mr. Dekom. Will you now proceed to discuss the International
Workers Order ?
Mr. HuBER. The International Workers Order is a Communist-con-
trolled organization which masquerades as an insurance society. It
offers cheap insurance to get people into the organization, I was a
member in the IWO, the so-called Irish Lodge. I know that the or-
ganization follows the Communist Party line 100 percent and that its
leadership is exclusively recruited from the Communist Party.
The IWO is the greatest transmission belt that the Communist
Party has. Its work is concentrated among persons of foreign birth,
being divided into 14 nationality groups, including Russian, Jewish,
Polish, Hungarian, Rumanian, Yugoslav, and so forth. Although
many of the people who joined the IWO were not Communists, they
have been worked on by the leaders and have been sold the Communist
Party line. It is a process of slow indoctrination; they present a
one-sided picture, they swamp their members with propaganda, and,
in many cases, they are successful.
Mr. Dekom. To what extent does the Communist Party control the
r^^o.
Mr. HuBER. Completely. You cannot be an officer of the IWO with-
out being a Communist. Every officer of the IWO is a member of the
Communist Party. I have been in the IWO headquarters hundreds
of times, and every official that I met was a party member,
Mr. Dekom. Did you know them to be party members from your
own experience?
Mr. HuBER. Yes. Take Dave Green, the executive secretarv of New
York State. He is one of the most powerful men in the IWO. He
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 529
once brought up one of the lodge members on charges and I was to
be his witness. He said to me, "Are you a member of the party ?"
I said, "Yes."
I then asked him, "Are you a member of the party?"
He said, "Sure."
Mr. Dekom. How about some of the other IWO officials that you
know to be Communist Party members ?
Mr. HuBER. There are Herbert Benjamin, Max Bedacht, William
Weiner, and others.
INIr. Dekom. Wliat is the American Committee for the Protection
of Foreign Born?
Mr, HuBER. The American Committee for the Protection of Foreign
Born is a Communist-front organization, used to contact foreign-born
people, and invariably leads these people into the ranks of the Commu-
nist Party. This organization gives help in obtaining citizenship, and
assists in obtaining visas for relatives of its membership who are still
in foreign countries. It also gives legal assistance in any matter which
may arise, through the Civil Eights Congress, a Communist front
established to give legal aid to Communists who get in trouble with
the law. Formerly this legal service was given by the International
Labor Defense, and the Civil Eights Congress is the successor.
The American Committee for the Protection of Foreign Born
is one of the most important Communist fronts, particularly to-
day, when the United States Government is trying to deport alien
Communists from the country. The American Committee for
the Protection of Foreign Born was organized to defend alien Com-
munists who might be deported or who might otherwise violate the
law.
Second, the American Committee for the Protection of Foreign
Born is used by the Communist Party to indoctrinate immigrants
in this country. As I have told you, the committee provided teachers
for immigrants at Communist Party units.
Mr. Dekom. We have received from Mr. Huber two press releases
issued by the American Committee for the Protection of Foreign
Born. The first announces special citizenship classes for aliens. The
second announces the granting of an award to Louis Adamic. These
will be marked "Huber Exhibits 4A, and 4B," respectively.
(The documents were received in evidence and are as follows :)
INITIATE SPECIAL CLASSES FOB NON-CITIZENS
A series of special classes for non-citizens on English and citizenship will be
started next month by the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born,
it was announced today. The classes are t)eing conducted in order to prepare
applicants for American citizenship to meet the educational and literacy
requirements of the naturalization laws.
The committee stated that each class will be limited to 10 members, in order
to enable the instructor to give proper personal guidance and assistance to each
member of the class. Additional information concerning the classes on citizen-
ship can be obtained by writing to the American Committee for Protection of
Foreign F.orn, 23 West Twenty-sixth Street, New York 10, N. Y., or calling
Murray Hill 4-3457.
The citizenship classes, which will begin on October 3, will be held at the
Institute for International Democracy, 23 "West Twenty-sixth Street, New York
City, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. There will be three different
classes : Morning class (10 a. m. to 12 noon) ; afternoon class (2 p. m. to 4 p. m.) ;
evening class (8 p. m. to 10 p. m.). The term for each class will be 8 weeks.
530 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
The first classes are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, October 2. The registration
fee for the 8-week course is $10.
Those desiring to attend the special class for non-citizens on English and
citizenship can register now by mail, or in person any day on or before October
2, between 10 a. m. and 6 p. m., at the oflSces of the American Committee for
Protection of Foreign Born, 23 West Twenty-sixth Street, New York City (be-
tween Broadway and Sixth Avenue).
Louis Adamic Selected for Annual Award
Louis Adamic, well-known writer, has been selected by the national board of
directors of the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born to receive
the committee's annual award, it was announced today.
The citation for the award this year is : "To that American who has contributed
most during the last year to the mobilization of foreign-born Americans for the
victory program." Recipients of the award in previous years have been former
Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization Earl G. Harrison (1943) ;
former Congressman Thomas H. Eliot (1912) ; and Congressman Vito Marcan-
tonio (1941).
In making public the result of the board of directors' selection, Hon. Stanley
Nowak, national chairman of the American Committee for Protection of Foreign
Born, stated for the committee :
"Louis Adamic has been selected to receive the annual award in recognition
of the unselfish and patriotic contribution he has made to our victory in this
war by taking leadership in the campaign between 1942 and 1944 to unite
Americans of South-Slavic extraction in support of the war effort, thus setting
an example to other immigrant groups.
"Mr. Adamic's was the first voice raised in this country to expose the Mikhail-
ovitch hoax. His untiring efforts to acquaint the American people with the
facts served to defeat one of the Fascist conspiracies against our national unity
and total victory over the Axis.
"In his work, from August 1943 to April 1944, as president of the United
Committee of South-Slav Americans, Mr. Adamic gave democratic leadership and
inspiration to all Americans. We feel that Mr. Adamic earned the gratitude and
appreciation of the entire American people as a result of his outstanding con-
tributions to our victory program in the mobilization of Americans of foreign
birth."
Louis Adamic was born in Yugoslavia in 1899 and came to the United States
in 1913. He served in the United States Army during the First World War and
became an American citizen in 1918. In 1940 and 1941, he served as a consultant
on immigrant problems in the President's Defense Commission. He is the author
of The Native's Return, My America, My Native Land, and many other well-
known books. He is general editor of The Peoples of America Series, twenty-odd
volumes on the various elements of the American population, which will begin
to appear in 1945
Mr. Dekom. Now, I will ask you to take up the Joint Anti-Fascist
Kef ugee Committee.
Mr. HuBER. The Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee was one of
the most important and influential of the Communist-front network
during the early 1940's. The cry of "antif ascism" was one of the most
useful masks for Communist Party activity and movements. It pro-
vided the party with one of its most useful disguises for operation.
The Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee was formed in 1942
as a result of the coalition of other Communist-front organizations
active, to a large extent, on behalf of the Spanish Communists.
The three organizations which came together as the Joint Anti-Fascist
Refugee Committee were the United American Spanish Aid Com-
mittee (which was previously infiltrated by the Commimists and
taken over by them), the Exiled Writers Committee of the League of
American Writers, and the American Committee to Save Refugees,
the latter two also being Communist fronts.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 531
To show you the close ties of this front with the Communist Party,
I will tell you about the organizational drive in 1946. In February
1946, the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee (offices at 192 Lex-
ington Avenue) inaugurated an intensive cami^aign among Com-
munist Party branches to get active support. Speakers from the
committee were to attend branch meetings of all Communist Party
clubs in the Greater New York area, to appeal for membership sup-
port, and to set up action committees. These action committees would
regularly receive bulletins from the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Com-
mittee, and, in turn, would transmit the information contained therein
to their clubs. This procedure was begun and most branches were
covered during that month.
Mr. Dekom. Are there many of the officials, sponsors, and sup-
porters of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee who are mem-
bers of the Communist Party ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes.
Mr. Dekom. Will you name some of them who are members of tha
Communist Party to }- our knowledge ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, I will.
Felix Kusman, Moe Fishman, Freddie "Blackie" Meyers, Beth Mc-
Henry (wife of Blackie Meyers), Sara Gropper (wife of William
Gropper, cartoonist of the Daily Worker) , Mr. and Mrs. Robert Engel,
of 1240 Park Avenue, Linda Ross, Paul Robeson, Charlotte Honig,
and Regina Wilson. I have been told by other Communists that
Edward K. Barsky, national chairman, was also a member of the
Communist Party. ''
Mr. Dekom. Have you attended meetings of this organization ?
Mr. Huber. Yes, I will give you several instances. I might repeat
here, if I may, Mr. Chairman, that I kept careful notes of all party
activities in which I took part, including meetings of fronts such
as the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee. For example, on May
19, 1942, Margaret Osborn, 237 East Sixty-first Street, New York City,
gave a benefit party for this Communist-front organization. About
300 people were present, with an admission of $1 per person. Games
of chance, such as roulette wheel, bird cage, craps, poker, and so forth,
were all covered by members of the committee, to see that a percentage
was donated toward the "cause." During the evening, I counted 11
United States Army officers present, 1 captain and 10 lieutenants.
Many other service personnel were present in their United States
Army uniforms. Entertainment was furnished by Leon Josephson's
Cafe Society Uptown. Among the prominent guests were : Muriel
Draper, Annette Rubinstein, Bella Dodd, Mrs. Regina Wilson, Moe
Fishman, Mrs. Burkee, Charlotte Hoiiig, Rev. Ver Lynn Sprague, Mrs.
Vincent Sheean, Mrs. Robert Emmett, Martha Dodcl, Mrs. Robert
Flaum, Dave Green, Dr. and Mrs. I. Engel Kaufman, Dr. Edward
Kallman, Doris Green, and Alex Guttman.
On February 14, 1943, Regina Wilson gave another party for the
Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee. About 100 guests were
present. The party was to raise funds for the release of 30,000 mem-
bers of the International Brigade held in concentration camps in
Africa. William S. Gailmor, radio commentator on Station T^TIN,
appealed for funds. He said that if the committee could raise enough
funds, it had the promise of a person high up in the State Department
532 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
that thousands of these people, then in concentration camps in Africa,
would be able to enter the United States, and that the Mexican Gov-
ernment would accept as many as we could bring over. Gailmor pre-
sented some watches to the vice consul of the Soviet Union, who was
present at that party. Those watches were donated to the boys in the
Bed Army by mothers of boys who died fighting with the Abraham
Lincoln Brigade in Spain.
On March 22, 1945, the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee
sponsored a dinner opening its drive for $750,000. The opening re-
marks were made by Dorothy Parker, who turned the meeting over
to Herman Shumlin, the producer, who acted as chairman for the
evening.
The principal speaker was Lillian Hellman, who had recently re-
turned from the Soviet Union where she had been the guest of Voks,
Soviet Cultural Department. She stated that she knew everyone
present was anxious to hear about her 4 months' travel through the
Soviet Union. She denounced William L. White's book on the Soviet
Union, warning guests that this was the first of many books which
would follow, written by other reactionary people like him. She
stated that she had traveled along the same route as that traveled by
William L. White and had seen an entirely different picture. She
boasted that she was the first American ever to be permitted in the
front line and combat area with the Red Army.
A collection speech was made by Dr. Edward K. Barsky, chairman
of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee. In less than half an
hour, guests numbering approximately 800, contributed $63,000.
Large contributors included Joseph Weinstein, $5,000 ; Charles Gold-
man, $5,000; International Fur and Leather Workers Union, $8,500;
Leverett Gleason, $3,000; Sam Novick, $2,000; Charles Krumbein,
$500; Mrs. Englander, $500; Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union,
$2,400; Herman Shumlin, $1,000; Lilliam Hellman, $1,000; and eight
anonymous contributions of $1,000 each.
Seated on the speakers' platform were Richard Watts, Carl Van
Doren, Dr. Charles R. Joy, Soviet Consul General Eugene Kisselev,
Dorothy Parker, Helen Bryan, Felix Kusman, Mr. and Mrs. Ostrow,
and Mr. and Mrs. Leverett Gleason.
Mr. Dekom. In your testimony and in other material obtained by
this subconuTiittee, the name of William S. Gailmor has been re-
peatedly associated with Communist organizations, including a large
number of those which operate in the foreign-language fields. Do you
know whether or not he is a member of the Communist Party?
Mr. HuBER. I know that he is, because I have personally seen him at
many closed party meetings, meetings to which only party people
would be allowed to come. Some of these meetings were for top party
people and Gailmor was among them. As a matter of fact, I remem-
ber Gailmor very well, because I used to have charge of the liquor and
Gailmor was quite a drinker; he loved his alcohol. Many times he
used to ask me for "another drink," particularly when the meetings
were held at the home of Yetta Engel, 1240 Park Avenue. She was
pretty "tight" with liquor and told me I had to get so many drinks
out of each bottle. So, the drinks were sometimes pretty weak and
Gailmor would come around asking for more.
Mr. Dekom. Is Gailmor his real name or is it an acquired name?
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 533
Mr. HuBER. It is acquired. His real name is Margolis, I believe.
He also was involved in car theft and was convicted for it.
Mr. Dekom. Did he not participate in the Wallace campaign last
year ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, he was one of the money-raisers. He is quite a
rabble rouser ; he can make a good talk and can whip up people into
giving money.
Mr. Dekom. Are there other important meetings of the Joint Anti-
Fascist Refugee Committee at which you were present and which
you can report ?
Mr. HuBER. I think that I can give you a fairly good picture of the
organization by reporting to you the meeting of September 24, 1945.
This meeting was called the Spanish Refugee Appeal, and was put
on to raise funds for Spanish Communists Another point of interest
is the fact that Norman Corwin, about whom the chairman of this
committee spoke in the Senate a short time ago, was one of the lead-
ing speakers. I understand that Corwin is now working for the UN,
writing radio scripts for x\merican radio stations. That is very sur-
prising to me, because Corwin was known in the Communist Party
circles as a person who would always follow the party line. He ap-
peared and spoke at many meetings and he never deviated from the
party line. His name was connet-ted with the party's biggest, most
useful fronts. That is why I am surprised that the UN should pick
him to write its radio scripts.
Mr. Dekom. You were about to report on the meeting of the Joint
Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee; will you proceed?
Mr. Huber. On Monday, September 24, 1945, at 7:45 p. m. the
Spanish Refugee Appeal of the Joint Anti-F.icist Refugee Committee
(oflices at 192 Lexington Avenue) held a Rally for Spanish Democ-
racy and for the breaking of relations with the Franco government,
at Madison Square Garden. This rally was a:tended by an estimated
15,000 persons. Admission was by tickets piiced from 60 cents to
$3.60. The rally was opened by the playing of the National Anthem
by the Goldman Band, directed by Edwin Franko Goldman. The
narrator, Jose Ferrer, stated that this rally was to remember the
heroic struggle of the Spanish people for freedom and democracy.
He stated that actors, singers, and dancers of Broadway would salute
the fighters for freedom.
Sono Osato, from the show On the Town, was the first speaker of
the Broachvay contingent. She said :
Dorothy Parker asked me some time back if I would speak for this wonderful
occasion and I said "yes" immediately, for 1 felt very strongly about it. Then
I said "no" and then "yes" again. I was sent a little sp 'ech and now I have for-
gotten it, so the only thing I would like to say is that 1 i years have gone by, with
the Spanish Republicans starving, murdered, being s'ck and hungry, and we are
10 years behind our promise to help them. But it is not too late, and tonight
is a wonderful occasion to prove that by giving mi:ney, all the money that you
can spare, to the Spanish Refugee Committee so that they may send medicine,
clothing, food, and all the essentials to these people who have been so weakened
in this tremendous struggle for so many years that it is unbelievable to think
that they can still hold out. Let us remember t'^at we are united for a purpose.
Tears do not help; you have to do something about it. I hope that we will all do
as much as we can for these people.
Betty Comden was next. She stated :
Miss Osato has expressed everything very well. I just want to say that we
must all remember that for six long years the Spanish refugees have been living
534 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES EN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
in concentration camps in France. All of them are fighters ; all of them are
unbroken. They have been starved, tortured, and shot. We cannot, we must
not, and we will never forget them.
Jean Darling, from the show Carousel, was next. She stated :
I am proud and happy to have been selected to tell you that we in Carousel
deem it an honor and a privilege to add our voices to the admiration of the
number of Spanish Republicans who, for 6 years, have carried forward, with
such great sacrifice, their unending fight against facism and for a free world.
We of the theater are accustomed to dreams and make-believe, but we know the
real thing when we see it, and so we say to remember the Spanish anti-Facist
fighters. We will never forget you. Salute.
David Brooks, from the show Bloomer Girl, appeared next. He
said:
I came down here tonight for two reasons. One of them was to salute the
Anti-Facist Refugee Committee and the other is to prove that actors are people
although a lot of them don't realize it. It's a damned shame. I'd just like to
leave you with one thought — the actors who are here know it, those who are not
here don't know it. Actors and music do not thrive under Fascism, so on behalf
of the Bloomer Girl company and on behalf of the artists, I, too, say salute.
She said:
Despite the prison camps, the forced labor camps and all the hunger and
disease, the morale of the Spanish refugees is high. They have been denied the
right to live peacefully for six long years, yet they still maintain their faith
in the Spain that fought for democracy. What else can we say to these beautiful
people? What else, than to say how can we free you? As a Russian and Ameri-
can actress, I would like to pay tribute to a great Spanish actress who is here
with us tonight — Miss Rosita Dios Negrin. (Spotlight on latter, and applause
from the audience.) Salute.
Margo, from the show A Bell for Adano was next. She stated :
It is with the deepest emotion that I bring to you the greetings of every single
person in the cast of A Bell for Adano. I simply have not the words to say in
English, or in Spanish, the depth of emotion that I feel tonight, so I won't try.
I would like to say that the Spaniards who fought so gloriously in exile must
have felt themselves deserted by the people ; they must have felt their cause
forgotten. I wish they could be here today to see this garden filled with people
gathered here to honor their cause. I would like to read these words to you,
and I wish that the people of Spain could hear them, so that they would know
that we know that they fought for us :
"After the battle, when the chains are smashed, when all men are brothers,
when all men are free and killing will end and war will cease, then freemen will
have a freeman's peace."
This is what I would like the people of Spain to know ; that for all of us here,
there will be no peace until they return to their own land. Salute.
The Goldman Band followed this with a medley of Spanish Repub-
lican songs. The narrator then declared :
Opening this meeting tonight is a man who has come to symbolize the fight
of tlie people. More than any other individual, he has been responsible for the
organization and activities of the Spanish Refugee Committee, Dr. Edward K.
Barsky.
Barsky stated :
May I welcome you here tonight on behalf of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee
Committee. It is great to see this garden filled up. A Madison Square Garden
for Spain is always in order. There is no doubt in my mind that if we work
together, we shall soon have another garden meeting to celebrate the rebirth of
democracy in Spain. We have had our VE-day, our VJ-day, but the war against
fascism will never be over until we have a VS-day^ — Victory over Fascist Spain.
For a world of security, justice, and peace, Franco must go. The Joint Anti-
Fascist Refugee Committee is a major committee in the United States that has
consistently done everything possible to help the Spanish in exile.
COAIMTXNTIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 535
Who are the Spanish Republicans? Spain fought the first battle of World
War II. The Spanish people waged a courageous struggle against German and
Italian invading forces. It is to the everlasting shame of Great Britain, France,
and the United States that they permitted their sister republic to go down in
defeat.
For that reason we have paid with the blood of our soldiers.
The Spaniards fought a battle that will be long remembered. The insidious
dangers of the fifth column, cruel tactics and the mobilization of the entire people
was learned at Spain. Every single resistance movement in Euroi^e had in its-
top leadership men who fought in Spain. Guerrillas wrecked railroads, de-
stroyed bridges, sabotaged mines, and when the moment of liberation came,
they fought with the French Maquis. They are the valiant, undefeated, forgotten,
and neglected Spaniards, but they have never accepted their fate.
Through the long years of their exile, separated from their homeland, from
their loved ones, they have gone on hoping and planning for the future. There
still burns fiercely the hatred of fascism and the determination to do everything
possible in the fight for democracy. Today in France, there are 200,000 exiles,,
suffering from hunger, malnutrition, sickness, and disease; thousands of Span-
iards are now returning from German labor camps where they slaved, but their
morale is remarkable. Their only wish is to keep strong enough to go back to
Spain and help rebuild a land of freedom. Their children, born in concentration
camps, are the future leaders of a great nation that will help cement the forces of
democracy for peace and security.
These are the Spanish Republicans in exile. The Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee
Committee is determined to do everything possible to help these people. Tonight's
meeting marks the opening of the fall drive for $750,000. Relief is being admin-
istered by the Unitarian Service Committee. In Mexico, supplementing full
assistance to the Spanish refugees, we support a school and a hospital. Our
funds go to Portugal, Cuba, and Switzerland. We have been through a great
war and we have all played our part. We are now confronted with the many
problems and complexities of peace, but despite all this, we Americans must,
and I am sure will, fulfill our obligations to these mose heroic Spanish people
who at all times preferred to fight and die on their feet than live on their knees.
In thinking about a chairman for this evening, we said he must combine pleas-
antness with authority, levity with seriousness, and have a genuine love of
democracy on an international scale. We have such a man here tonight. He
headed the Republicans for Roosevelt during the last election ; he is vice president
of the National Lawyers Guild ; he gave his services in the defense of Harry
Bridges. Ladies and gentleman, I am very happy to present to you Mr. Bartley
Crum.
Bartley Crum opened his talk with the statement :
I am glad to hear somebody say a good word about an American Republican.
The chairman then introduced the following speaker as New York
City's soon-to-be-elected city councilman, Michael J. Quill. Quill
stated :
I am wondering if we tonight are not making a public apology to those who
have given their lives in an attempt to crush fascism? When I say that, I
mean the people and orirnjUzed workers of the United States, heoanse we are
responsible for what our Government will do and has been doing. It was we
who elected the present Government, and it is about time that the citizens of this
country, one of the United Nations, should stop making streamlined speeches,
should cease to be soft on this question. It is about time that we demand of our
State Department to break relations with Franco. We made mistakes in 1936,
1937, and 1938. When the lights were going out in Europe, the people of Spain
kept that last torch of freedom going with their blood and with their very lives.
That was the time when Hitler and Mussolini were using Spain and the
Spanish people as a proving ground for their Nazi streamroller that rolled over
more than 30,000,000 people in Europe. Had we spoken out then, had we been
united then, we could have stopped this last terrible war.
And now we come down to the piers with hands welcoming home the soldiers,
we pin medals on the Gold-Star Mothers, and we say there is nothing too good
for the boys; but while we are saying all this, we are not telling them that
fascism is not yet defeated — as long as Franco and his puppet government re-
mains so long will that cancer of fascism remain in the world.
98.330— 50— pt. 2 6
536 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
I speak for the Congress of Industrial Organizations. I speak in the name
of the New York City CIO. I know that when I speak in the name of labor
and call for the breaking of relations with Franco, that I speak for the auto
worker, the steel worker, the office worker, and the transport worker — they want
no part of Franco fascism.
Tliere is a conference, an important world conference, being held in London
tonight. The voice of this meeting should be heard at that world conference.
Our Secretary of State should speak up now and declare that his Government
and the American people want an end to the Franco government and liberation
for the Spanish people. On top of all the sacrifice, there is more than a hope,
because tonight, in the city of Paris, ior the first time in the history of organized
labor, we have delegations and delegates from the free labor movements of the
world about to form a world federation of free labor.^
I am glad to be able to state that high on tlie agenda of their program will be
a demand by the American CIO that now is the time for action ; that we are at
the end of our road of pleading ; that now is the time for the world federation
of free labor in Paris to say once and for all, "Hang Franco with the same rope
as will hang Goering."
The next speaker was introduced as a member of the "glorious"
Abraham Lincoln Battalion, Edward Robinson. Robinson declared :
I am here tonight, talking in the place of one who has certainly given much to
the cause of Spain and whose death has brought to a close his continued efforts
in the cause of Spain, David McKelvey White. He has been, and facts are
well known, that in 193G and 1938, men irom all over the world went to fight on
the side of the Spanish Republic.
We knew the aims of the Axis long before most other people. We went to
Spain because we knew that in Spain act 1 of the world tragedy was taking
place, and we hoped that the people of the democracies would realize it in time.
More than half ot our members laid down their lives in Spain.
Of the 1,200 who returned, almost all who were capable were engaged in the
world-wide struggle against fascism. Many of those who lived, lost their lives
at Guadalcanal, Okinawa, and on the beaches of Normandy. Capt. Irving Goff,
Sgr. Milton Joe Felson, Sgt. Bob Thomp.son, Capt. Herman Boettcher, Sgt. Sid
Pertz, Joe Gordon, these and many like them were the stuff of the International
Brigade.
\\ e will never be convinced that Franco was neutral. We knew that 50,000
trained troops from Spain were sent to fight against our allies from the Soviet.
We knew about the network of espionage that was set up in Latin America ; we
always knew that Franco was not neutral.
We of the International Brigade know that Frapco was, and still remains, a
most dangerous enemy of world peace. This being true, there is just one thing
we must do. The American people must break all diplomatic and business rela-
tions with Franco Spain. We must show the world that we know Franco for
what he is, another Hitler whose ambition is to split the world and then enslave
it. Let's set ourselves the task of breaking relations with the last dictator still
in control of his country. A world which tolerates a Fascist Franco government
is a world that can never be completely democratic or at peace. Let freedom
reign again in Spain.
Kenneth Spencer, singer, with Jonathan Price at the piano, enter-
tained with songs.
The next speaker was introduced with the following statement:
The International Brigade remains today a powerful symbol of the true inter-
national democratic spirit. One in whom this spirit burns brightly and fiercely
<;ame to this country as a political exile. He has since become an American
citizen. His voice is heard constantly in the fight against fascism and for
freedom, Johannes Steel.
Steel opened his speech with —
Fellow anti-Fascists : * * * Mr. Truman, Mr. Bevin, we want action now.
' This is a reference to the World Trade Union Congress to establish the World Federa-
tion of Trade Unions. Labor unions from democratic countries withdrew from the WFTU
•on the ground that the organization was under complete Soviet domination.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 537
The chair was then yielded to Jose Ferrer. He stated :
I would like to say a few words before going on with the introductions, by
saying that I cannot tell you how proud I am to see you all here tonight, to see
Madison Square Garden full, and being here with and among you. It is quite
easy, as you probably know, for one in my position as maker of introductions,
to go off the deep end, but I have no such fears in introducin,": the next speaker.
He is an author of radio programs and author of the best seller On a Note of
Triumph, Norman Corwin.
Norman Corwin declared:
This is where we came in. There was fascism in Spain before the big war
began and there is fascism in Spain now that tliat war is over. The difference
is that in the meantime 40,000,000 have been killed or maimed in the interest
of ridding the world of fascism. We rejoice that the democratic flags are flying
over Rome, Berlin, and Tokyo, but the flag of the Falange still goes up every
morning in Madrid.
It is easy to forget, but nothing that has happened in our lifetime seems, to
me at least, to have the particular bitter poignance of the original auti-Fascist
war of the Spanish Republic.
I say now, some 5 weeks after VJ-day, that all things considered, there rises
out of the tribulations and the agony and exultation, one weak distinction that
the so-called premature anti-Fascist was and is the first citizen of our time.
The original premature anti-Fascists were the people of the Spanish Republic;
they were the International Brigade; they were the people of this and other
countries who entered the fight of their own volition, people like Jim Lardner
and Hank Boettcher, and in violation of the shameful rules of nonintervention,
fought the enemy, gun sight to gun sight. They were the people whose con-
science were ahead of their time, and were accordingly subject to investigations
by congressional committees. They knew that as long as there is any fascism
in the world, including the tower of the Chicago Tribune, that there is still
a war.
In a war whose newspaper correspondents have numbered Ernie Pyle, Robinson,
and Kuhn it is easy to forget one who gave information to the enemy, but there
are people who have not forgotten. Those people sit tonight in dingy basement
restaurants in Toulouse, Marseilles, and they talk of their republic. They
know, and we know, there will be a republic again across the mountains.
Whether or not this number of people will live to return to their new republic
depends in very large measure upon this assembly here tonight. They need
everything except patience and courage, food, clothes, shoes, medical supplies,
arms, and legs, they need to eat ; they need morale and physical support to
achieve their battle cry of the Loyalists : "Make Madrid the doom of fascism."
The next speaker was introduced as representing? the country which
has never recognized the Franco government, Nikolai Novikov, So-
viet Charge cl'Affaires at Washington and acting head of the Embassy
in the absence of Andrei Gromyko.
Bartley Crum then read a message sent to the rally by Dr. Jnan
Negrin, Prime Minister of the last pre-Franco government in Spain.
A special broadcast from England was then switched into the
garden, transmitted from London over WJZ and the Blue Network.
The speaker was introduced as one' of the stanchest friends of the
Spanish people and chairman of the national executive council of
the British Labor Party, Prof. Harold J, Laski.
The CIO Radio Chorus, directed by Simon Rady, with Isabelle
Josephs at the piano, then entertained with songs. Narrators were
Uta Hagen and Jose Ferrer.
A message was read from Richard Frankensteen, vice president of
the United Auto Workers of America, by Bartley Criim, in which
Frankensteen said he regretted being unable to attend the rally be-
cause of the strike conditions in Detroit.
The chairman then paid tribute to Dorothy Parker, who worked as
chairman of the arrangements committee for this rally.
538 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Lisa Sergio was the next speaker. She said :
Almost everything has been said about Franco tonight that one could say about
him, it seems. But one of the many things that he has done has been forgotten,
tonight. It was under Franco that one of the most revolting, dirty vpeapons used
in this war was invented. The fifth column was his invention, let us not forget
that.
We talk a lot about getting rid of Franco, he is still there and so is the fifth
column. Rememl^er that no organization of people which carries out espionage
and sabotage dii- organizations can function without some leadership, and that
leadership of the surviving fifth column today includes all of the people who don't
want the victory of democracy as in Spain. That is one more reason for which
Franco must go out. Who is going to throw Franco out, I ask you? Is it the
businessmen who are doing business with him in all of the United Nations?
During the war, when there was need of oranges, Spanish oranges were bought
because Franco was given the money. Are these same people today going to
throw Franco out? No, let's not kid ourselves. We can back the people who are
going in there to throw him out, but they have to be Spaniards who throw him
out. And where are the Spaniards? Well, they are tireless fighters and so they
fought in the underground, in the French Maquis, with Tito's guerrillas, every-
where it was possible to fight, and many finally ended in Hitler's concentration
camps. Those who did not fled to some of the French towns, and when they
handed them over to the victorious Allies, we disarmed these Spaniards, and now
they have gone back to the camps that Vichy had set up for them.
Those whom we liberated from the death camps in Germany had no place to go.
Do you know any American boy who came out of a prison camp in Germany?
Has he told you what it meant to see the Allies arrive, to see the camp thrown
open, to know there was a place for him to go to, that there was home?
These Spaniards have no place to go to ; there is no home for at least 200,000
Spanish republicans because we. the victorious democracies, do not want to recog-
nize that Spain is their home and not the home of Franco.
I know we have appealed to President Truman. In England they have appealed
to Mr. Bevin and Mr. Attlee, and at San Francisco we made a nice sounding declar-
ation which was repeated at Potsdam, but Franco is still there. If they really
meant to throw Franco and his men out, these people who think they have won
the war for democracy, would not let 200,000 fighters die and starve of disease. I
say it's fine to talk and the eyes of the world are on this rally tonight. There are
about 20,000 people here. I hope that you recognize one another in this gardea
because the world is looking at us and if we go away from here, moved by the
speeches we have heard and will hear, and stirred by the songs, it won't be
enoug^h.
Tomorrow morning the women of these Spanish fighters will turn around full
of aches and pains from the cold floor where they sleep somewhere in France, but
you and I who have talked a lot tonight will have had a place to sleep and
enough to eat. This is what pleases Franco ; that we talk a lot, but that we must
prove what we say by injecting into the heart and muscles of these people some-
thing that will set them to fight again.
It is very well to win a war on the battle front but when you begin to count
up the physically and mentally destroyed women and children, then it is that you
add up the score of victory and defeat. Do you realize that today as our men
come sailing home, and we greet them with signs of welcome, still grumbling
even though the war is over, do you realize that in Europe there is still the
greatest number of Germans left? They have killed the children of the coun-
tries they invaded. In 15 years they will rise again. Do you realize that every
one of the Spanish republican children that we snatch from the hands of death
will be the equivalent to 10 resurgent Fascists and Germans that we will have
to put down in 15 years?
Wars may be won with weapons and blood and money, but who gives the
money, blood, and spirit? It is the people. Why did the United Nations win
the war? Because there were more people on our side who never lost faith even
in the darkest years. It is a question of people, and it has been part of the
Fascist plan in the camps to kill women who could have borne children to fight
for peace.
While a great generation was being brought up under Hitler's regime, millions
born every year and trained to believe that Fascism would again rise, they have
tried to kill the children of Spain. There are 200,000 men, women, and children.
There used to be 500,000 who left Spain when Franco won because our stupidity
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 539
enabled him to win. Today we cannot locate that half million and we know
that there are about 200,000 left today in E'rance that we can still save. Let's
get President Truman to break relations with Franco. Let's take these 200,000
people and let's make them the living evidence that our words are not just
words. Let's do something about them, for mercy's sake, and not just talk
about it.
There is only one place in the world, and only one group of people in the
world, who have the right to demand that the surrender document be drawn
up and signed in their presence — I mean the total capitulation of the fifth
column that is still in Europe — that group of people that must receive the sur-
render instrument of fascism are the Spanish republicans, and the place can
only be Madrid. I would say that it is time that we be practical. How
about proving to these 200,000 that we want them to live? Is there anybody
here with $1,000?
The collection followed. Amon*^ some of the large contributors
were :
National Maritime Union, CIO, $1,500.
Secretary of the Spanish Tobacco Workers Union of Tampa, Fla., $2,000.
Social workers, $1,000.
Editor of Readers Scope, Leverett Gleason, $1,000.
International Workers Order, $1,000.
Russian War Relief, Chapter of Local 19 of United Office Workers Association,
$535.
Irwin Burke, $600.
Arthur Bernhart, $600.
Morris Latson, $600.
Sam Novick of Electronic Corp. of America, $500.
Charles Korwin, $100.
Chefs, Cooks, Pastry Cooks, and Assistants Union, New York Local 89, AFL,
$230.
Edward K. Barsky, $250.
Albert Mitchell, $300.
•Sam Jafee, $300.
I. Greengold, $200.
Herman Cherry, $350.
Joseph Hirschorn, $100.
Moe Asch, $100.
Louis Goldberg, $100.
Neighborhood Committee for Allied War Relief, $200.
Herbert Ahren Corp., $250.
F. G. Miles (from London), $100.
Francis L. Scheff, $500.
Emily Pearson, $100.
Phil Shapiro, $100.
Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, $50.
Staff of the Spanish Refugee Appeal, $60.
New York State Committee of the Communist Party, pledged $500.
American Youth Club, $26.
Sportswear Specialty, Inc., $25.
Workers of Cafe Society Downtown, $50.
Women for Allied Aid of Manhattan Beach and Brighton, $50.
Students from Brooklyn College, $75.
The Goldman Band again entertained with musical compositions,
followed by Paula Lawrence and Josh White singing the Free and
Equal Blues. Vincent Sheean, author and war correspondent, was
the next speaker.
A spotlight was thrown on a Mr. Tung,^ member of the Communist
Party in China. The next and final speaker for the evening was
Mme. Isabel de Palencia, former Minister to Sweden and Finland
of the Spanish Republic Government. The meeting closed at 11 : 30
p. m.
Tung Pi-wu.
540 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Mr. Dekom. Next, Mr, Huber, I ask you to take up the Veterans
of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
Mr. Huber. The Veterans of the Abraham Lincohi Brigade is an
organization that is made up of men who joined in the Spanish Revo-
lution. The American unit on the side of the so-called Loyalist forces
was called the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
Mr. Dekom. Was the Abraham Lincoln Brigade under Communist
control ?
Mr. Huber. Oh, certainly. The whole outfit was recruited through
the Communist Party here in the United States. The party arranged
for passports and transportation. Forged, false papers were made up
or obtained by the party for travel to Spain. In Spain the Commu-
nists took away American passports and papers and, I found out,
these papers were sent to Moscow to be used later by Soviet agents to
get into the United States. Ail the ranking officers of the Lincoln
Brigade were Communist Party members and the brigade was run
strictly on the Soviet system, with a commissar who had absolute
power over everything. They say they were fighting for liberty^
but their system was as dictatorial as in the Soviet Union.
The Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade is engaged in
making Communist propaganda, raising funds, and in supporting
Spanish Communists. In that sense, as I explained, it is connected
with aliens and foreign-born Communists. Also, foreign officials in
this country have attended meetings of the Veterans of the Lincoln
Brigade.
Mr. Dekom. Will you, please, give us specific cases of this, of the
connection of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade with
officials of foreign governments accredited to the United States ?
Mr. Huber. Yes, sir. I have one particularly good example of
this, the national convention in New York, September 21, 1946.
Mr. Dekom. Did you attend that meeting ?
Mr. Huber. Yes, I did, and I can give you a complete report of it,
not just the presence of foreign officials.
Mr. Dekom. Please do so.
Mr. Huber. The first national convention since World War II of
the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade was held at Fraternal
Clubhouse, 110 West Forty-eighth Street, New York City. The vet-
erans had originally planned on holding memorial services at Madison
Square Park, Twenty-third Street, but a heavy rainfall prevented
same. The invocation was delivered by Rev. David Nathaniel Lico-
rice; this was followed by taps. The convention opened with the
band playing songs, featuring the Red army song. The chairman
was Bert Jackson, who stated :
Comrades, the weather seems to be very much against us today. The only
thing that seems to be lacking are the blankets around our shoulders and the
constant scratching we used to do in Spain, to make it seem Like the old days.
However, without further ado, I think we should get on. We have some very
distinguished guests who likewise have continued the fight against fascism and
who likewise are mobilizing as many people as possible to bring a quick end to
the Fascist regime in Spain. We l^ave with us Mr. Joseph Fauling, and, of
course, always with us is Dr. Ed Bursky ; we have with us the Yugoslav consul,
Consul Hinko J. Samec ; and I see another consul, the Polish consul, Jan Galewicz ;
we have the Czechoslovak consul, Josef Forman ; New York City councilman, Ben
Davis. And no meeting would ever be complete without our own Paul Robeson.
We also have a delegate from the Win-the-Peace organization, and a large group'
of people who, although they cannot be with us, send us greetings.
COMMUN-IST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 541
Jackson read telegrams from Congressman Hugh DeLacy, Upton
Sinclair, Herbert Lehman, Edward G. Robinson, Carey McWilliams,
and Bartley C. Crnm, praising the members of the Abraham Lincoln
Brigade in their fight against fascism. He continued stating, "We
have another legal representative to our convention, Vice Consul
Anatole Yakovlev, of the Soviet Union."
Milton Wolff, national commander of the brigade, delivered the key-
note address as follows :
Guests, friends, and delegates, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade was born first
fighting against fascism. The members have been characterized as fighting anti-
Fascists and we have been called other less complimentary names. Certain very-
blunt commentators have dubbed us pi'emature anti-Fascists. I cannot I'emem-
ber a convention where we have not worked out plans to intensify our fight
against fascism. We have always been guided by the motive which sent us to
Spain, by the remembrance of the people who gave their lives — the people of
Spain. Down the years we have dedicated ourselves to the struggles of peace,
and of the conception of a government of the people, by the people, and for the
people. Men of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade have fought and distinguished
themselves in every battlefront.
When we went to Spain in 1936, proclaiming to the world that we would fight
fascism, we rejected with our lives all the evils of appeasement and compromise.
We have stuck to our guns in the face of the enemy. We feel that it is important
for the American people today to review the message of the last 10 years in the
light of our own experience. Ten years ago the Spanish people were holding
the curtains of democracy against fascism. The Soviet Union was the only
country which defended these principles, and did so with materiel and supplied
armies. We, the American volunteers of the International Brigade, rejected a
policy of appeasement with guns in our hands and with our lives on the battle-
fronts of Argonne. We maintain that the hope of the world rests with us, the
American people. We must reestablish on a firmer basis than ever before, the
friendship between the Soviet Union, the United States, and Great Britain, which
defeated the Axis and which can maintain the peace and build a better world
for us. We must stay in the forefront in the fight for the destruction of facism,
and particularly in Spain. Spain is one of the most important keys to all inter-
national development. Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade cannot and
will not stop short of a world of peace — a democratic world.
The chairman read greetings from Frank Kingdon, Serge Kous-
sevitsky, and Pablo Picasso. Betty Simms sang several Spanish
songs, followed by Paul Bates, who also sang Spanish songs. The
chairman then stated :
At this time we bring before the convention a person who needs no introduc-
tion to members of the Fifteenth Brigade — our own commander of the Thirty-
fifth Division whom we know so well as General Walter (General Walter is the
name under which Gen. Karol Swierczewski, Polish Vice Minister of Defense, led
the Dombrowski brigade in Spain).
His address was delivered in Polish and translated at intervals, but
indistinguishable. The essence of it was high praise for the Abraham
Lincoln Brigade and to the effect that Polish fighters had fought in
Spain in 1936 to prevent the dropping of bombs on Poland in 1939.
Jackson continued :
General Walter, who was in Paris only hours ago, has brought with him some
awards to be made to some members of our brigade, who have consistently car-
ried on the fight against fascism and have kept alive the fight against Franco.
The first name that comes to mind is the name of our own Herman Boettcher ; ob-
viously the award will have to be received by someone else — and who better than
Comrade Irving Goff.
Irving Goff was a captain in the United States Army, serving with
OSS. ^' ^
542 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Following Goff's acceptance of the award, the chairman stated:
I will call up all the remaining : Alvah Bessie, wlio is on the west coast carry-
ing on the fight against fascism ; Jack Bjoze, executive secretary ; our National
Commander Milton "Wolff; Dr. Edward Barsky; and that fighter against fascism,
Paul Robeson.
Awards were distributed. The chairman again continued :
Comrades, the keynote of our convention is the continuation of the fight against
Franco and against fascism, and probably the epitome of fascism today is repre-
sented by none other than Byrnes,^ of South Carolina. It is logical, if we are to
fight against fascism, we might fight fascism here at home and in the South.
It is fitting that the chairman who is leading the crusade against lynching, which
is going to Washington on September 23, should speak to us — it is our own
representative who will now speak to you — Paul Robeson.
After a tremendous ovation, Paul Robeson said that he was "going
to say a few things, but first I want to sing a couple of songs."
After singing, he said :
One of the things I want to talk about is what lynching can mean in America.
I am going down to Washington on Monday and bring to the conscience of
America what this means. You who have been in Spain know what it means;
you know it means to break the spirit of the Negro people. This is a very im-
portant anti-Fascist truth today. The reactionf.ries are going to break the
Negro spirit, and I know you of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade will do all you
can to see that this reaction is wiped out. We know the unity of the struggle
for the Negro people; they look to the progressives and to those like you who
fought in Spain to help them. You were in Spain, you xnow what the Spanish
people were fighting for. We have here representati\es from Czechoslovakia,
Yugoslavia, Poland, and the Soviet Union ; they know what the struggle was all
about — a war against the forces of fascism. And so in Poland today, in Czecho-
slovakia, Yugoslavia, and China they are fighting for a world where people can
live in peace. We cannot be confused; we know what is going on, and we must
take it to the American people, with no apologies for anything; we must never
apologize. It is important not to be afraid of saying we are Communists; we
cannot live in the world without them, and we must stop worrying about them.
We have always been put on the spot. We have a Communist in the city coun-
cil today — Ben Davis. We have a very special struggle in the fight for the
Negroes, in the fight for the people. We are in the vanguard, and we must stay
there, working every day and night. We must keep moving, to force the reac-
tionaries back. It takes tremendous courage, but we will continue to fight for
a decent world. We know that in the historic period today, we in America are
bearers of the standards. America has a great responsibility — the veterans
of the brigade must live np to their responsibility.
Chairman Jackson again took over, stating :
Comrades, the old fighting songs have been sung and the fighting words have
been spoken. Many of us no longer give the youthful appearance we had a few
years ago, but we have more experience and can go on and carry on the fight
more successfully than in the past. Before we conclude this session of the con-'
vention, I think it would be correct to receive greetings from a representative
body of our government which is an indication that times have changed —
Eugene Connolly.
Eugene Connolly addressed the audience, stating :
Yes ; I would like to bring you greetings. I am very privileged as an individual,
and as a member of my party, to come here and be permitted to say a few words
to the men who know what the struggle against fascism is. I would like to say
something which I think Paul Robeson touched upon. It seems to me that we
are at a new point in American history — we have had great struggles in our his-
tory— we have had the struggles of .Tefferson and Jackson — we have had the
debates of Lincoln and Douglas. Today it seems to me that the American people
are about to engage in a struggle which transcends these, and I think it is a fight
1 James F. Byrnes, Secretary of State.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 543
we are going to win. Franklin D. Roosevelt is not dead, and the people of Amer-
ica believe in the things he fought and died for ; carrying forward his policies
today is another great leader, Henry Wallace. Mr. Truman has silenced a Cabi-
net member, but this has aroused the voices of the American people. Henry Wal-
lace, I am utterly convinced, has spoken in the voice of the American people, and
I think we are going to win the light against the reactionaries and against the
poll-taxers. We are going to win the fight for the South. The American people
understand that there is only one course for our Nation to follow, and that is the
fight for the peace. Peace means cooperating with the Soviet Union, the out-
lawing of Franco. For the American Labor Party I am happy to say that it is
our firm conviction that we are going to win this fight. A vote for the American
Labor Party is a vote for peace. We are not going to compromise on the issue
we are fighting for — and that is the fight for the American people. We are going
into the fight together, and will work together.
Mr. Dekom. Have you any information on the American Committee
for Yugoslav Relief ?
]\Ir. HuBER. That was, of course, p well-known Communist front,
with much of its activity run by the party organizations.
Mr. Dekom. Upon what do you base your statement?
Mr. Huber. Communist Party units were active in promoting the
organization, and I knew that some of the top officials were Communist
Party members or connected with Communist Party fronts. I can
give you a couple of examples.
In June 1945 the American Committee for Yugoslav Relief, with
offices at 58 Park Avenue, conducted a vigorous campaign to raise
$1,000,000, which was to be used to purchase medical supplies for ship-
ment to Yugoslavia. One of their promotion schemes was to solicit
funds through the signing of scrolls, which were distributed through
the clubs of the Communist Party of America.
On Thursday, October 24, 1946, 1 was at a dinner sponsored by the
American Committee for Yugoslav Relief, at the Hotel Pennsylvania.
Admission was $6.50 per person. About 500 people attended. The
chairman was Stanley Isaacs, New York City councilman, who stated
that the people of Yugoslavia were grateful for help the United States
was giving them through the UNRRA; that they did not believe such
help would be terminated by the American people. The names of
other speakers, excepting that of Ambassador Sava N. Kosanovic,
were unintelligible when introduced. They spoke in broken English
and were difficult to understand. Entertainment was furnished by
Yugoslav singers and dancers. Pete Seegar made a hit with the audi-
ence when he had them join in the chorus of a song entitled, "I'm.
Gonna Stick by the Union." Most of the audience was familiar with
verses of that song, which was connnonly sung at Communist Party
affairs. A collection speech, started by a priest of the Serbian Ortho-
dox Church,^ who presented the committee with a $15,000 donation
from his congregation, was later taken over by William S. Gailmor,
because of the poor English spoken by the priest. They collected
about $25,000. Ferdinand Smith gave $500 in the name of NMU;
$1,000 was donated by a man named Caspar,^ owner of the Stockholm
Restaurant in midtown Manhattan. The concluding speaker. Am-
bassador Sava N. Kosanovic, denied that religion was not allowed to
be practiced in Yugoslavia and said that religion was free to exist as
1 Probably Strahinja Maletich, executive secretary of the United Committee of South
Slavic Americans and later an employee of the Yugoslav Consulate in New York. He has
been forced to leave the United States.
2 For the testimony of Frank J. Caspar, see p. 77.
.544 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
always in that country. He stated that it was true that the church
was separated from the state in his country, but that it was no different
than here in America, where one of the basic principles is the separa-
tion of the church from the state. He stated that the attacks on Yugo-
slavia over the prison sentence meted out to Archbishop Stepinac were
unjustilied, because, if the true facts were known, Yugoslavia would
be found blameless in that affair and that Archbishop Stepinac was
given his sentence for misusing his church to aid the Nazi occupation.
He denounced the American press for working up a war fever against
Yugoslavia, while at the same time adopting a soft and forgiving note
toward those who followed Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito. He said
that his country was grateful for the assistance of the people of the
United States, and stated that threats to halt such aid were not taken
seriously by the people of Yugoslavia. Guests included Saul Mills,
Regina Wilson, Ferdinand Smith, and Sam Kanin.
Mr. Dekom. I notice in a number of instances which you have cited,
as well as others which have come to the attention of this subcommit-
tee, that Communist officials and representatives from abroad have
participated in meetings over here. Is this a common Soviet propa-
ganda technique.
Mr. HuBER. Yes ; it is.
Mr. Dekom. Can you cite any recent instances of that ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, sir. The Cultural and Scientific Conference for
World Peace, held in New York last March. I was present at that
meeting and, if you like, I can give you a full report on it.
Mr. Dekom. Please go ahead and do so.
Mr. HuBER. The National Council of Arts, Sciences and Profes-
sions, with headquarters at Suit 76, 49 West 44 Street, New York City,
sponsored a Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace on
March 25, 26 and 27, 1949, to which international guests were invited.
A welcome dinner was held in the grand ballroom, Waldorf-Astoria
Hotel, Forty-ninth Street and Park Avenue, on Friday, March 25,
1949, with 1,900 guests attending, reservations $10 per plate. The
dinner began at 7 : 30 and terminated at 11 : 40. Harlow Shapley, of
Harvard, acted as chairman. Seated on the dais were the following
guests :
Myrta Aguirre, Cuba
Dr. R. E. C. Armattoe, North Ireland
Krisimir Baronovich, Yugoslavia
Ernst Boas
Peter Bogdonov, Yugoslavia
Jan Boor, Czechoslovakia
Dr. Allen Butler
F. Manrlque Cabrera
Serge Chermayoff
M. E. Chiaurely, U. S. S. R.
Erling Cliristophersen, Norway
Aaron Copland, composer
Norman Cousins
Olin Downes, New York Times
W. E. B. DuBois
A. A. Fadeev, U. S. S. R.
Prof. Joseph Frank, Sweden
S. A. Gerasimov, U. S. S. R.
John Goss, Canada
Nicholas Guillen, Cuba
Lillian Hellman, playwright
Ferdinand Hercik, Czechoslovakia
Pa well Hoffman, Poland
Jiri Hronek, Czechoslovakia
Hayward Keniston
Leon Kruczkowski
Brenda Lewis
Dr. Juan Marinello, Cuba
F. O. Matthiessen
Bishop Arthur W. Moulton
Michael Nisselson, Amalgamated Bank
A. I. Oparin, U. S. S. R.
Stanislaw Ossowski, Poland
P. A. Pavlenko, U. S. S. R.
Jovan Popovich, Yugoslavia
Carlos Ramos, Philippines
0. John Rogge
1. D. Rujansky, U. S. S. R.
Dr. Harlow Shapley
Mrs. Harlow Shapley
Rev. Guy Emery Shipler
D. D. Shostakovich, U. S. S. R.
AVilliam Olaf Stapledon, England
Ladislav Stoll, Czechoslovakia
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 545
Dr. Domingo F. Villamil, Cuba
Alexander Vucho, Yugoslavia
Edward L. Young
Colston Warne
■Charles Stuart
T. O. Tbackery
Louis Untermeyer, poet
Olive Van Horn
Joseph Vidmar, Yugoslavia
The dinner opened with Brenda Lewis, City Center Opera, singing
the National Anthem, followed by the invocation by liev. Arthur
W. Moulton. Dr. Shapley introduced the guests on the dais. The first
speaker was Stanislaw Ossowski, from Poland.
Myrta Aguirre from Cuba, speaking in Spanish which was trans-
lated into English, stated :
I take great pleasure in expressing Cuban adherence to this great assembly
which will work to prevent the outburst of a preventable and avoidable new
world war. The future of the world can be resolved by specific and rational
means. As we greet this congress, we lament that the representation of Latin
America is reduced to one single group and one Puerto Rican. Only insur-
mountable obstacles, well known to all of us, deprive them from coming. In view
of these realities, I dare to salute one and all in the name of all Latin Americans
who are not able to be present ; I also dare to salute this congress in the name
of the illustrious women who should have been here today but were unable
to come into the country.
Jovan Popovich, from Yugoslavia, speaking in his native tongue,
which was translated into English, stated :
I am indeed glad to greet this conference. The smoke of the last war has
not yet disappeared, yet we are today witnessing new attempts to create a war
psychosis. However, this time war is not being heard everywhere. We in Yugo-
slavia believe that the peoples of all countries want peace and friendship with
each other. Peaceful cooperation is possible among countries with dillerent
ways of life. This is possible if the rights of all peoples are considered. No
one of us in Yugoslavia wants or is anticipating war. From day to day millions
of Yugoslavians are building up their country; the bright future is around the
bend. The artists, scientists, and other professionals of my country have a great
interest and the people of my country are responding. Among the peoples of evex'y
country, every piece of art, every scientitic achievement which serves to strengthen
the faith of man, finds immediate and deep response. On the other hand,
works of art which sow discrimination and hatred work against the common
good of peoples of all countries. Such so-called culture negates the aim of
culture.
F. Manrique Cabrera, speaking in Spanish, which was translated by
Louis Untermeyer, stated:
As a Puerto Rican writer, I feel deeply honored to greet the people here
assembled for the noble purpose of lending themselves to the supreme effort of
attaining peace. On arriving in this city, many of us were faced with nervous-
ness and alarm with respect to this conference. This situation for a time
deprived us of the necessary calmness to understand the lending of our presence
in this place. Let us oppose this irrational aspect with our full power. Unly in
an atmosphere of peace is it possible that the creative forces of all men and
peoples may serve the best interests of humanity and prosperity. It is just
as important to say who we are and from whence we come as it is to say what
we desire : Peace, peace be to all men.
Chairman Shapley read messages received from the following:
Thomas Mann, George Bernard Shaw, J. B. Priestley, Frederick Ash-
ton, Frederick Joliot-Curie, of the Institute of Radiology in Paris,
Federation of Spanish Workers and Educators; teachers in Finland,
Puerto Rico, Israel, Yugoslavia; director of the Hebrew Academy,
the bishop of Birmingham, the bishop of New South Wales, Johannes
Becker, of the Cultural League for the Rennaissance of Germany;
Michael Redgrave, Martin Ajaderson, of Denmark; Diego Rivera, oi
Mexico City; Professor Blackett, scientist and author; and Sean
O'Casey.
546 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
William Olaf Stapledon, English philosopher and psychologist, was
the next speaker.
Further greetings were read from Prof. J. D. Bernal, Paul Eluard,
of France, and Abbe Boulier.
Charles Stuart, educator and publicist who is associated with the
Churchman, followed. He recited the aims of the common man for
peace, quoting that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. He
said:
This is a real fight for peace. Let's review the things which have happened
here in America to silence those who speak for peace in the realm of academic
freedom: Dr. Hyman Bradnick, New York University; Dr. Clyde R. Miller, Prof.
Roger Morgan, Professor and Mrs. Ackley ; Dr. George Parker, Dr. Luther A.
McNair; Prof. Clarence Ahearn; and other outstanding professors from the
University of Washington— all dismissed. These attacks have been made upon
the Methodist Federation and upon that fearless edtior, Guy Emery Shipler, of
the Churchman, and upon my own rector and his son, Melish. This meeting
is not a climax, this is a beginning. This is where we come in, we go on from
here. I am going to ask you now in the presence of those foreign guests, to
whom America is a new country, to show them a different American procedure, to
take up a collection. Let's make it another win, and for the sake of this com-
mittee which has done such a magnificent job tonight and will do in the future,
let's show them what we Americans can do.
The following contributions were made:
Harry Ratigan
Bobby and Joe Weinstein
Art Division of the Arts,
Sciences, and Professions.^
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Gilmore
Michael Nisselson
Eli Harvard
Barney Josephson
Harry Prager
Marcus Goldman
Allen H. Ford
Henry Wilcox
A. H. Goldsten
Theodore Shapiro
Dinah Feldman
Benjamin Gilmore
Ira Hirshman
Sara Rosenman
Charles Peck
Max and Loitis Shapiro
Dr. Benjamin Siegel
Nathan Fisher
Abe Pomerantz
David Bellow
Helen Tamiris
Lawrence Herman
Ralph Brandon
William Morris
Philip Jaffe
Corliss and Margaret Lamont
Samuel Jaffe
Charles Goldman
B. L. Spitzer
Daniel Rock
Dr. Raphael Soyer
The Methodist Federation for
Social Service
Mr. and Mrs. Fagan (?)
Dr. Auriellio (?)
Elinor Gimbel
$1,000
John Stanton
$100
1,000
Mollie Novick
Building Industry, of Arts,
lOO
1,000
Sciences and Professions
100
500
Louis Berraan
100'
500
Naomi Ames
100
250
Samuel Goodman-
50'
250
Abe Oilman _
50
250
Mary Galvis _ _
50
200
Sam Neuberger
50
200
S. J. Rodman _ _
50
200
Morris Epstein
50
250
Horace Titus
50
155
Jerome Chodorov
50
100
Jules Epstein-.
50
100
Herman Rabin
50
100
Micky Lesser
40
100
Beatrice Turner
25
100
Sol Golfein _
25
100
Jesse Shapiro _
25
ion
M. Steinfeld
25
100
Rose Gaulden
25
100
George Ives
25
100
Harry Mandel
25
ion
Jacob Allenoff __
25
100
Beatrice Buchman
25
ino
Jimmy Wise
25
100
William H. Melish
25
100
Sam Basso
25
100
Ruth Rubin- _
25
100
Reva Esser — _
25
100
Hester Gale Sondergaard
25
100
Mrs. Ruth Smith
50
inn
Samuel litman
25
100
Soiiia Ruth Goss -
25
Allen Harvey
25
(?)
Dr. Emily Pearson
25
100
Dr. Lipshitz
25
100
Dr. Neubauer
25
100
Dr. Leo Mayo
25
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 547
The estimated total contributions were over $15,000.
Aaron Copland introduced Dimitri Shostakovich, who spoke in
Hussian, which was translated as follows :
On behalf of the members of the Soviet delegation, allow me to give my greet-
ings to the progressive representatives of America. We are united with them
in accomplishing the noble task of working for peace. I am sure that this
meeting will be useful and beneficial to our mutual cause. As a musician and
representative of the arts which need not be translated from one language to
another, I realize how much can be done for the cause of peace — let our efforts
prove not fruitless.
Norman Cousins, chairman of the State Education Commission of
Connecticut and editor of the Saturday Review of Literature, gave a
speech, which was so unexpectedly pro-American that the audience
first gasped and then booed at intervals. He said :
I am grateful for this opportunity to speak, especially since I am about to
present a minority report. I regret that everyone is not present tonight. The
announced purpose of this conference is peace, but before i talk about peace, I
would like to talk about your visit to the United States. I am certain that there
are many things which have happened since your arrival that are disturbing.
From the moment you landed on our shores you have been in an atmosphere
of tension, hostility, and strong violence. It is not because Americans are
unfriendly. I regret that this hostility is the reaction of the auspices under
which this conference is held. American people in demonstrating against this
conference are not speaking out against peace but against a small political group
in this country which has failed to live up to its words of democracy. * * *
Radicalism is not the issue. * * * Under those circumstances, your visit
here proves that men of all creeds and nations can find and welcome a con-
genial association. No man can claim the right to speak for his countrymen.
I am sure that distinguished representatives will want to report back to your
governments and people. Americans want peace, but they do not want peace at
any price. If the price of peace is injustice, they don't want peace. If it is the
price of spiritual denial, they don't want peace. If the price is detachment from
the rights of man, they will reject peace. Americans know what the next war
means ; they know that there can be no victory in the next war except over life
itself. There will be no fabric left at all if peace is not won. This has bolstered
Americans' desire for peace — support the United Nations — the time has come
for all peoples everywhere to give the United Nations power to enact force. We
must recognize a higher law. This means that those methods affecting the
security of all peoples must be supported — the United Nations must be backed
by force. The veto must be abolished, backed by the machinery of justice and
due process of law. Mankind's conscience must be built into the structure of the
United Nations. Tell them of the growing support in the United States for
peace; tell them about the citizens of Connecticut who voted in favor of giving
the UN power for security, for peace. Tell them the American people want
to build the United Nations; tell them it is not true that the American Govern-
ment wants war, but until a strong UN is established it will stand firm against
aggression ; tell them that Americans are anti-Communist but not antihumani-
tarian ; that, while Americans respect the rights of other people for their own
forms of government they are apprehensive of government by coercion, especially
when coercion comes from without. Say that democracy is an enduring princi-
ple; say that it means there is enough room in America to believe in Herbert
Hoover and Harry Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt ; say that democracy to
Americans means making mistakes and correcting them. Democracy in America
comes under the heading of unfinished business and it does exist strongly. Say
that Americans believe in intellectual freedom ; say finally that Americans
recognize that there are ideological differences separating the peoples of the
world today but they are not free; that peoples are more important than nations
and what is at stake is the coming destiny of man. Say that America would
like to hold out its hand to the peoples of the world and it is doing this because
of the differences which must be kept from catching on fire.
Lillian Hellman followed, severely criticizing Cousins' speech,
stating it should have been made in panel [loudly applauded]. "It
has been a strange week, with people calling the sponsors and asking
548 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
them to withdraw." She stated she had joined the anti-Communist
picket line in order to get the reaction of the pickets. She added :
I dislike the vulgarism of the word "philosophy." There is a new kind of
philosophy this week being practiced by hook or crookism which allows many
versions — if you want to call names of honest men, you do it. I think it is^
possible that, if we told you of the many phone calls made by Professor Hook,^
it would not sound possible. Governor Dewey embraced Professor Hook early
this week. We intellectuals were meant to act like statesmen. Many of us
disagree on many i-s;ues with many others of us here. Four years ago, I was
living on the Polish front with the Russian Army. Now it is fashionable to
feel that only Russia is at fault. I think we have come together to say we are
tired of speaking about whose fault it is. I think it isn't right for men to have
scales ; it no longer matters whose fault it is but just that this must be stopped.
Wars will not kill capitalism nor communism. History will take care of what
will come. You can't kill ideologies. It is sad that we have not learned this
lesson. This dinner was not planned for solutions ; in all humility we can do no
worse than statesmen. We want only to declare here that there are still men
and women in the world who don't think it dangerous for peace. Long live life ;
that's why we are here.
On Saturday, March 26, 1949, the keynote session of the Cultural
and Scientific' Conference for World Peace was held at Carnegie
Hall, Fifty-seventh Street and Seventh Avenue, from 10:40 a. m. to
1 : 15 p. m. Hilda Morse sang the national anthem, Dr. Harlow Shap-
ley acted as chairman. He announced that, due to the large demand
for admission to the panels, each delegate would be permitted to
attend only one panel. He denounced the one-sidedness of the repre-
sentation of this conference as Communist as being the fault of the
Department of State. The international guests who had appeared at
the dinner were again introduced to the people present at this session.
Shapley announced that the national members of the NCASP would
hold a dinner meeting in suite 744 Saturday night ; that members of
the resolutions committee would meet in suite 2545 on Sunday at
9 : 30 a. m., as follows :
Dr. Allan M. Butler Mary Van Cleve Clifford Durr
Bishop MoiTlton Michael Nisselson Colston Warne
Olin Downes Ira Wolfert James Waterman Wise
W. E. DuBois O. John Rogge Arthur Gaeth
Lillian Hellman Philip Morrison John Howard Lawson
Arthur Miller Guy Emery Shipler Martin Popper
Professor Fairchild Louis Untermeyer Shirley Graham
Herman Herrey Olive Van Horn Dr. Edward Young
Shapley then discussed the world in the atomic age.
Arthur W. Moult on discussed the foundations for peace, stating :
The foundations of peace lie in the collective good will of the peoples ; that
this collective good will becomes highest through the arts, cultures, sciences, and
professions. The preamble of the United Nations Charter begins that the peo-
ples of the United Nations determine to save succeeding generations from the
scourge of war. The word is that word "peoples" and the other word is that
word "determined" ; it is "peoples" and not "people." Peoples of the nations are
determined to see to it that war is out of fashion. It is outdated and outmoded ;
it is obsolescent and we are determined to make it obsolete. What about this
determination — how are you going to put body, soul, spirit, mind, and will into
it to make it stand out under the assaults of fearmongers? That is the task
of this conference. The forces which build the world into a pleasant place to
iProf. Sidney Hook, chairman of the philosophy department at New York University,
orj^anized a counter rally and denounced the Cultural and Scientific Conference for World
Peace.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 549
live in and make that life worth while are emerging from the foxholes of timidity
and demand your attention as they take over the world. This is a resurrection
and resurgence of the forces.. I want you to see something of the glory of the
High Command. I would like to tell the peoples of the world that war shall
be no more ; that we possess magic to prevent destruction ; draw the minds of the
people from the ugly to the bad. I want the peoples to he seized by a moral
infatuation for world peace ; it is a collective matter. Nobody wants war ; get
the world's mind off war. Collective contributions of the people of the world
in their arts, cultures, professions, religions, form an Olympian structure which
will bring world peace. I urg-e that everyone join religion to be geared into
the daily life of the individual to enrich personality and sire enthusiasm for the
job of saving the world. Religion and progress are twins. Quit living like
atheists and move into the army where God dwells.
Moulton's address was not to the liking of the audience in his con-
stant reiteration that religion and God were the basic factors for
achieving permanent peace.
Nicholas Guillen of Cuba spoke in Spanish, which was translated
by Millard Lampell, as follows :
This conference meets during dark moments for the world. However, limited
and restricted, it still plays a giant part in this hour of anguish ; frightened people
are thinking of the armed drive. This war could not start by itself alone.
It is not an invited war, and there is on this earth no just meaning for its
being unleashed. The trust to sell war and obtain the fabulous dividends of
war is comprised of those who will not go to it ; to ambitious government men
who will follow the course from their green tables, the marching men they
have sent to death, merchants of death, powerful rich, smooth smug politicians,
those who never saw action during the war but read it in the headlines. Be-
cause this war would be fomented by stupidity, hatred, ignorance, lies against
them, intelligence must prevail, must remain awake. The artist who considers
himself outside the struggle of our time must realize that his destiny is to stand
among people with the aim of peace.
T. O. Thackrey, editor and publisher of the New York Post, dis-
cussed United States foreign policy and its effect on world peace. O.
John Rogge discussed the relation of domestic to foreign policy.
On Saturday, March 26, 1949, from 2 p. m. to 5 p. m., the following
panel sessions were held in the name rooms of the Waldorf-Astoria r
Economic and social sciences — Jade Room :
The IMarshall Plan in Relation to Peace and War, by Paul M. Sweezy,
economist.
The Economic Consequences of the Cold War in the United States, by Prof.
Colston E. Warne.
The Effect of a Disrupted World on Food Problems and Prospects, by David
M. Lubbock.
Racism, Colonialism, and World Peace, by Gene Weltfish.
The Social Consequences of the Cold War in the United States, by Grace
F. Marcus.
Mass Communications — Wedgewood Room :
Remarks of Alexander Vucho.
Discussion on behalf of the workers of Soviet art and Soviet cinema, by
Sergei A. Gerasimov.
Mass Communications in Latin America, by Myrta Aguirre.
The Front Desk and the Foreign Correspondent, by Victor Bernstein.
The War Crises in the Headlines, by I. F. Stone.
The Role of American Radio in World Peace, by Arthur Gaeth.
The Cold War and the American Film, by John Howard Lawson.
Education — Astor Gallery :
Education in Czechoslovakia, by Jan Boor.
Education in Poland, by Stanislaw Ossowski.
Taboos on Knowledge, a Menace to World Peace, by John J. de Boer.
Implementing Academic Freedom, by Dr. Hayward Keniston.
550 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Religion and Ethics — Basildon Room :
The Responsibility of the Church and Synagogue Today, by Rev. Shelton
Hale, Bishop.
Same subject discussed by Rev. S. Harrington Littell.
Same sub.1ect discussed by Rt. Rev. Arthur W. Moulton.
Same subject discussed by Rabbi Louis I. Newman.
The Cold War or a Living Peace, by Rev. Guy Emery Shipler.
The Ideological Conflict, by William Olaf Stapledon.
Writing and publishing — Starlight Roof :
The Writer and Today's Challenge for Peace, by Richard O. Boyer,
The Independence Movement in Asia, by Agnes Smedley.
The Written Word in the Struggle for Peace, by P. A. Pavelenko.
W. E. B. DuBois discussed freedom of tliought.
Planning and building — Palm Room :
Development of United States Resources for Peace, by Henry T. ShotweU
Opening remarlis by Serge Chermayeff.
Scientific — Astor Gallery, 8 to 11 p. m. :
W. A. Higinbotham discussed atomic energy.
Viewpoint of the Progressive Czech Scientist on War and Peace, by Prof.
Ferdinand Hercik.
Science and the Struggle for Peace, by A. I. Oparin.
Science as a Bridge to Peace, by Walter Orr Roberts.
The Science of Life and Death, by Prof. Theodore Rosebury.
Prerequisites for Maximum American Scientific Contribution to World
Abundance, by Henry A. Wallace.
Fine arts — Starlight Roof, 8 to 11 p. m. : The Artist as Interpreter of His Age, by
Philip Evergood.
Physical and mental health — Palm Room, Sunday, March 27, 10 a. m. to 12 : 30
p. m. :
The Importance of Peace to the Health of the People and to Medicine, by
Dr. Ernst Boas.
International Relationships for Mutual Benefits, by Dr. R. B. G. Armattoe.
Wealth and Health in the U. S. A., by Dr. Allan M. Butler.
Social Environment and Mental Health, by Dr. Julius Schreiber.
On Sunday, March 27, 1949, the plenary session of the Cultural and
Scientific Conference for World Peace was held in the grand ball-
room of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel from 2: 15 p. m. to 5:25 p. m.
Prof. Harlow Shapley acted as chairman. Prof. Frederick L. Schu-
man spoke on American-Soviet relations. A. A. Fadeev, secretary-
general of the Secretariat of the Union of Soviet Writers, spoke in
Kussian, translated by Martin Blaine, in part, as follows :
Professor Schuman is mistaken. There are no elements in our country which
desire war in the United States or in any other country.
He praised the book, The Great Conspiracy Against Russia, writ-
ten by Albert Kahn and Michael Sayre :
I think the important thing is to understand that those elements in the United
States who would like to see another war are not only the enemies of the Soviet
but also the enemies of the American people, who, like ourselves, do not want
war. All these facts indicate that the threat of a new war does not come from
the Soviet. Peoples of the world will severely punish the instigators of a
new war.
Dr. Juan Marinello, delegate from Cuba, spoke in Spanish, which
was translated by Roger deKoven, actor. Agnes Smedley spoke on
the independence movement in Asia (same speech delivered at the
Writing and Publishing Panel) . Dr. R. E. G. Armattoe discussed the
independence movements in Africa.
Dr. Frederick L. Schuman again spoke, in answer to the points
raised by A. A. Fadeev, as follows :
It is important to me that I owe it to you to explain. I did not make myself
clear due to difficulties of language. I was told in Mr. Fadeev's very informative
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 551
and moving address that he said that there are no elements in the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics desiring war with the United States. 1 agree completely
with that statement. I also agree with the implication of the statement that
there are some elements in the United States desiring war with the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics. Those elements are not yet in Washington but else-
where— not yet very influential or very important. Some of you disagree, but I
want you to know my view of this. It seems to me that this is not the central
problem that we are faced with as we try to think and act in terms of avoiding
catastrophe in the future. Our drift toward war is not primarily the product
of the words or the acts of anyone anywhere who wants war in either country ;
it is a product of international anarchy — of the lack jf any effective world govern-
ment. There can be no progress toward the goal of some structure of world
government except on the basis of an American-Soviet settlement and coopera-
tion. Our drift toward war is also the product of irrational fears and hopes on
both sides. Almost no one in the United States really wants war with the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics, but they fear Soviet socialism and hope it will
collapse or be destroyed. American capitalism has nothing whatever to fear
from Soviet socialism, which will not collapse or be destroyed, or vice versa. The
problem of peace is the problem of whether our two different societies can coexist
and compete with one another creatively in peace. The ultimate alternative
toward that is the destruction of each city in its efforts to destroy the other.
Our answer is that they can coexist in peace and must do so if our civilization,
east and west, is to survive. Since the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, America
has not been making its contribution toward peace. We ask if Russia will make
her contribution for peace. I believe it will, but it remains to be seen.
A man introduced as Joe of the organization made a statistical
report as follows :
Number of people registered, 2,82.3, including representatives of all the arts,
sciences, and professions ; 491 from' art, music, theater, and dance ; 244 from
education; 246 from economic and social sciences; 202 from mass communica-
tions; 84 universities, colleges, and technical institutes represented; 575 dele-
gates from outside of the State of New York, representing 21 States, including
California, Utah, and the State of Washington ; number attending panels, 8,525.
An announcement was made that the action committee would meet
at 10 a. m. on Monday, March 28, composed of representatives from
each of the groups in the organization. A group of messages on
record, recorded by Levy's Sound Studios, Inc., 73 New Bond Street,
London, England, were run off, as follows : Mis& Patricia Burke, Louis
Golding, J. G. Crowther, and J. D. Bernal.
The text of resolutions as drawn up by the resolutions committee
was read, followed by discussion from the floor. Lillian Hellman,
Mary Van Cleve, and Martin Popper presented the resolutions.
Joseph Winan, chariman of the National Jewish Writers and Artists;
Albert Kahn, approving the resolutions, called for "peace at this
time." Herman Herrey and Howard Fast spoke from the floor.
Eesolutions were unanimously approved. On the resolution on cul-
tural freedom, Louis Harkis stated the LTnited Public Workers of
America (CIO) demand revocation of the President's loyalty order.
Mrs. Rose Russell of the Teachers Union and Philip Morrison also
spoke. In conclusion, Roger deKoven read a message received from
Thomas Mann.
A mass meeting was held on Sunday night, March 27, at Madison
Square Garden, from 8 p. m. to midnight; admission was from 60
cents to $3.60. Harlow Shapley acted as chairman ; Arline Carmen
opened with the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner, followed by
the invocation by the Rt. Reverend Arthur W. Moulton. A dramatic
skit was narrated by Sam Wanamaker, based on messages from people
throughout the world calling for peace.
98330— 50— pt. 2 7
552 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
The international guests seated on the platform were introduced,
which was followed by a speech by Dr. W. E. B. DuBois. Dr. Shap-
ley repeated the address given at the keynote session. Dr. R. E. G.
Armattoe repeated the speech made at the plenary session. Leon
Kruczkowski, speaking in Polish, translated by Sam Wanamaker,
defended the Soviet Union's efforts for peace. Domingo F. Villamil
spoke in English. Messages were read from people to whom visas
had been denied. Millard Lampell read a message sent by Paul Eluard.
William Olaf Stapledon repeated the speech he made at the welcom-
ing dinner. John Howard Lawson, followed. Jiri Hronek delivered
a message from the people of Czechoslovakia. Charles Stuart
announced messages from various people, including one received from
Charles Chaplin. He appealed for a general contribution toward
maintaining peace throughout the world ; total collection approxi-
mated $15,000. Among the contributors were :
Writers, Actors, and Artists
of Chicago $1,000
Hollywood Artists 1,200
Joseph Kaminoff—
Harry Kriegel
A. H. Bilstein
Lottie Davidoff
Sophie Zuckerbrod.
Chester Dichter
Paul Kronby
Elizabeth Halprin.
Margaret Parry
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Isabel Ruary $100
William Vulcan-
Leo Golden
Lillian Miller
Joseph Miller
Marjorie Sloan
Gussie McMahon.
Mrs. Wishinsky_.
Mr. Wishinsky—
Gertrude Butnik.
Ha^el Welch
William Gailmor.
Richard Lauterbach spoke on the shame and embarrassment he
felt at the exclusion of foreign representatives to the conference. A.
A. Fadeev spoke in Russian, translated by Martin Blaine. Dimitri
Shostakovich was introduced and played a selection, for which he
received an outstanding ovation, but he refused to play an encore and
did not speak. The two major resolutions approved at the plenary
session of the conference were unanimously approved by the audience.
Mr. Dekom. With the conclusion of your testimony concerning
the Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace, we shall
recess subject to call of the chairman.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES AMONG ALIENS AND NATIONAL
GEOUPS
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1949
United States Senate,
Special Subcommittee to Investigate
THE Immigration Laws, of the
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington^ D. G.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10 : 30 a. m., in Room
424-C, Senate Office Building, Senator Forrest C. Donnell, presiding.
Present : Senator Donnell.
Also present : Otto J. Dekom, professional staff member.
Senator Donnell. Let the record show that this is further hearing
on S. 1832. Our witness this morning is Mr. John J. Huber, who, I
understand, is to continue with his testimony.
Mr. Dekom. Yes, sir.
PUETHER TESTIMONY OF JOHN J. HUBER
Senator Donnell. Mr. Huber, for purposes of identification, will
you again state your full name and address in the record at this point?
Mr. Huber. John J. Huber, Cortlandt Street, Mount Vernon, N. Y.
Senator Donnell. You previously gave testimony at a hearing
during part of which I was in attendance, did you not?
Mr. Huber. Yes, sir.
Senator Donnell. Are you prepared at this time to proceed with
your testimony ?
Mr. Huber. Yes, sir ; I am.
Senator Donnell, Mr. Huber, I shall not remain for the taking
of the testimony, but Mr. Dekom will doubtless interrogate you, and
you will, therefore, feel at liberty to proceed to answer such questions
as he may propound to you and that you may deem proper to answer.
Also, he will refer to various exhibits, I believe, to be introduced
into the record in the course of the hearing.
Mr. Dekom. Yes, sir.
Senator Donnell. I shall not remain further, but the hearing will
now proceed along those lines.
Mr. Dekom. I would like to state for the record that Mr. Huber
previously appeared before this subcommittee on September 8 and 9.
At that time he was instructed to prepare certain additional material
and to present additional exhibits. Mr. Huber is now prepared to
go on with the testimony as per his instructions from the committee
at the previous hearings.
I will now proceed with the questions, Mr. Huber.
553
554 COJMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Are you familiar with the work of the Communist Party among
chikh-en and young people; their efforts to indoctrinate them with
the Communist ideology?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, I am. The Communist Party maintains a special
summer camp for children in the Schooleys Mountains, at Pleasant
Grove, N. J. The camp is called Camp Wo-Chi-Ca, which is a con-
traction of Workers' Children's Camp. It consists of 320 acres and is
used exclusively for the children of party members.
The camp office was at 112 East Nineteenth Street, New York, and 2
years ago it moved to the IWO headquarters building at 80 Fifth
Avenue. The manager of the office and camp is a Communist Party
member by the name of Matt Hall. The counselors are all membei's
of the Communist Party and the Young Communist League. That
is now known as the American Youth for Democracy.
Mr. Dekom. Is American Youth for Democracy the successor of
the Young Communist League?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, sir.
Mr. Dekom. Do you kiiow that of your own knowledge?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, sir.
They take the children from the age of 8 and provide them with a
thorough Communist education, until they are ready to be accepted
by the American Youth for Democracy. Children at the camp range
from 8 to 15 years of age. Matt Hall told me that these children get
what the party calls a good "progressive" education in addition to rec-
]-eation at the camp.
Starting August 1, 1941, the Communist Party conducted a drive
to raise funds to enlarge the camp to accommodate 1,000 children.
Prominent people aiding in this drive were William Dodcl, Jr., son of
the former Ambassador to Germany ; Mrs. Louis Gimbel, wife of the
department store owner.
On Sunday, September 21, 1941, I attended a party for Camp Wo-
Chi-Ca at the home of Canada Lee, 102 West One Hundred and Thirty-
sixth Street, an actor in Native Son (written by Eichard Wright and
staged by Orson Welles) . About 150 people were present, half Negroes
and half whites. Prominent people present were Dr. Max Weissman ;
Arthur Brunlich (recently dismissed from City College for Communist
activities) ; Herbert Newton, vice president of the WPA and Teachers
Unions (he was under indictment for attacking a police officer), and
Rev. Owen Knox. Canada Lee flew in from Boston for the occasion.
This benefit was the first of many staged for Camp Wo-Chi-Ca, the
proceeds of which were to be used to erect new buildings. The admis-
sion fee of $1 per person entitled each to one drink. There was enter-
tainment and dancing. Matt Hall, director of the camp, thanked the
guests and told them that the proceeds of this party would be put to
good use.
On Friday, September 26, 1941, I attended a party at the home of
William Dodd, Jr., 231 East Seventy-sixth Street, to raise funds for
Camp Wo-Chi-Ca. About 150 people attended. It was a swanky,
affair, with most women wearing formal attire, and admittance by in-
vitation only. Entertaining was by professional artists who volun-
teered their services. During the evening, the coming Madison Square
Garden rally was freely discussed by the guests, as were conditions in
the Soviet Union. Bill Dodd appealed for funds on behalf of Camp
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 555
Wo-Chi-Ca and a large sum was contributed by the guests. Guests in-
cluded Dr. and Mrs. E. Kallman, Dr. and Mrs. I. Engel Kaufman,
Annette Kubenstein, Matt Hall, Mrs. Vincent Sheean, Dave Green,
and Dr. Max Yergan.
On Monday, October 6, 1941, there was a meeting of the committee of
Camp Wo-Chi-Ca, at its offices at 112 East Nineteenth Street. It was
decided that a committee should be appointed to contact Dorothy
Thompson, regarding a personal appearance. The strategy used was
for Charlotte Honig to contact Dorothy Thomi)son through Mrs.
Vincent Sheean, a personal acquaintance of Charlotte's. By so doing,
they figured on not only being able to get Miss Thompson to speak for
less money, but concluded that she would not investigate the true
character of the organization for which she was to appear. She was
to be told that it was an organization to raise money for a children's
summer camp. I also learned that Paul Robeson was donating to
Camp Wo-Chi-Ca the entire proceeds from the preview showing of a
play in which he was to star.
On October 16, 1941, while lunching at the Twelfth Street and Uni-
versity Place restaurant, frequented by Daily Worker employees and
employees of the national office of the Communist Party, in company
of Al Lannon, Hyman Wolf, Matt Hall, Charlotte Honig, and Alex
Guttman, we talked about Camp Wo-Chi-Ca. Lannon told Hall he
would see that the National Maritime Union would give full support
to any undertaking of the camp.
Mr. Dekom. You mentioned the name of William E. Dodd, Jr., in
connection with Camp Wo-Chi-Ca. Have you any additional infor-
mation on this man?
Mr. HuBER. Yes.
On October 23, 1941, 1 was at the offices of Camp Wo-Chi-Ca when
the Reverend Sprague, of the United American-Spanish Aid Commit-
tee, phoned to ask for the telephone number of William E. Dodd,
Jr. As the girl in the office did not know whether to give it or not,
she told him she did not have the number, but expected Charlotte
Honig shortly and would have her call him back. Wlien Honig was
advised of the call, she phoned Sprague inquiring if he was going to
speak to Bill Dodd about party matters. When informed it was other
business, she gave the number, telling Sprague that Dodd had given
instructions that no matters pertaining to the Communist Party were
to be discussed over the telephone.
Mr. Dekom. Do you have to report anything further on Camp
Wo-Chi-Ca?
Mr. HuBER. Yes; I do. On Saturday, December 6, 1941, there was
a party at the home of Dr. and Mrs. I. Engel Kaufman, at 170 West
Seventy-third Street, to raise funds for Camp Wo-Chi-Ca. Invita-
tions were issued only to people of means who were in a financial posi-
tion to contribute liberally and who could also use their influence in
interesting others in their particular circles. No admission was
charged and a buffet dinner was served. Only 20 people attended.
Reverend Sprague. of the United American-Spanish Aid Committee,
spoke of the splendid work the camp was doing for underprivileged
children and of the urgent need for improvement. Donations
amounted to $860, with several hundred dollars more pledged. Guests
included Mr. and Mrs. Kahn, Dr. E. Kallman, Doris Green, Bella
556 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Dodd, Dr. Annette Rubenstein, Max Yergan, Mrs. Burton Emmett,
Morris "Watson, and Lillian Turner.
On Sunday, July 26, 1942, I visited Camp Wo-Chi-Ca with Char-
lotte Honig, Dr. and Mrs. Kaufman, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Engel.
There were 260 children of Communist Party members vacationing
at the camp ; many people were visiting their children that day. The
Daily Worker was displayed and openly read by visitors and the per-
sonnel of the camp. One visitor was Del, cartoonist for the Daily
Worker, who was visiting his son at the camp. The bulletin board
on the campus displayed an honor roll of boosters of Camp Wo-Chi-Ca,
which included Max Yergan, Canada Lee, Annette Rubenstein, Paul
Robeson, Vito Marcantonio, Dr. Rappaport, and Dave Green. There
were 60 Negro children among the 260 children at the camp. The
camp consisted of 10 buildings and 15 tents, the latter being large
enough to accommodate 8 children comfortably. Matt Hall, director,
made sure that Negro children were mixed in each tent and building
with the white children. A theater on the grounds was for campers'
shows and plays. A show was given for the visitors, which plainly
showed to everyone's satisfaction that the education those children
were receiving would undoubtedly lead them into the ranks of the
party. Matt Hall told me later that the editorial staff of the news-
paper PM would be his guests the following week.
The camp then comprised 125 acres of land, and was able to accom-
modate more children. That year a new swimming pool was being
built and room had been added to accommodate 100 more children
than had been possible the previous year.
On August 25, 1942, Camp Wo-Chi-Ca gave a party honoring Paul
Robeson. Prominently displayed around the camps' buildings were
signs which read, "Welcome, Paul Robeson," and "Paul Robeson,
Freedom's Fighter." On Robeson's arrival, the campers gathered
around him, singing a song of welcome specially written for this occa-
siori. He was escorted to the administration building where more
cheers greeted him, and a scroll from the children of the camp was
presented by a young girl. Guests included Mr. and Mrs. Dave Green ;
Max Bedacht, national secretary of IWO ; Mrs. Ann Willard, director
of School for Democracy; Sol Vail, youth director of IWO; Helen
Vrabel, national secretary of Youth Division of IWO ; Dr. and Mrs.
I. Engel Kaufman ; Mr. and Mrs. Robert Engel ; Harold Wilson, of
the Harlem branch of the YMCA; Mr. and Mrs. Matt Hall; and
Charlotte Honig.
On Monday, September 7, 1942, there was a party at Camp
Wo-Chi-Ca, sponsored by the children of the camp to honor the guests
from the labor unions which were contributing to the support of the
camp. Delegations from the following were present : Local 65, Wliole-
sale and Retail Warehouse Workers ; the National Maritime Union ;
Furriers Union ; International Workers Order ; United Office and Pro-
fessional Workers Union ; and the Transport Workers Union. The
children presented playlets depicting the strength of labor and the
gains it had made during the past 10 years. One playlet which was
presented portrayed Attorney General Francis Biddle and Harry
Bridges. It showed Biddle demanding the deportation of Bridges,
while other children, playing the part of organized labor, refused to
permit it. Moe Fishman and Joe Crowley represented the NMU;
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 557
Harry Gordon represented local 65 ; Sam Bnrt, the Furriers Union ;
Dave Green, the IWO ; Helen Shapiro, the UOPWA ; and John Stan-
ley, the TWU. All delegates promised the children in their speeches
that they would report back to their respective unions on the ideal
conditions which existed at the camp. The delegates were entertained
with songs and playlets from 3 to 10 : 30 p. m., with an intermission of
an hour for supper. These children's vacations are spent singing
songs and producing playlets which portray the party line to the letter.
Moe Fishman told the campers that his ship had been torpedoed off
Murmansk and that 24 of his shipmates had been killed. (Fishman
fought in the Spanish civil war and is a veteran of the Abraham
Lincoln Brigade.)
On Sunday, February 6, 1944, there was a dinner at the home of
Dr. I. Engel Kaufman, 170 West Seventy-third Street, given by the
Women's Committee of Camp Wo-Chi-Ca, to raise funds to enable
the camp to complete a new swimming pool on the grounds. About
60 people were present. Entertainment was furnished by artists from
Toscanini's orchestra through Harry Green, who plays 'cello with that
organization and who is also an active Communist Party member.
Conversation during the dinner centered around the Soviet Union.
No one present doubted that the Soviet Union would emerge from the
war as the most powerful nation in the world, and when the United
Nations would sit at the peace table, the Soviet Union would dictate the
terms. Some guests delighted in saying that the Soviet Government
was the only nation with enough courage to denounce the Catholic
church and its leaders as being Fascists. Guests included Mr. and
Mrs. Harry Green, Dr. Kallman, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Krause, Charlotte
Honig, Martha and Bill Dobkin, Nettie Turner, Muriel Draper, Muriel
Samuels, Munya Gutride, Regina Wilson, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert
Flaum.
Mr. Dekom. Can you tell us anything about this man Sam Krause?
Mr. HuBER. Yes ; I spoke to him and he told me he had served in the
Red ilrmy, being discharged in 1923 to come to the United States. He
did not say whether he had been sent by anyone or on any par-
ticular mission, but his tone implied that he had been sent to this
country for a purpose. He severely denounced the State Department
and several Members of both Houses of Congress, accusing them
of being the most vicious Fascists in America. When he left, a guest,
who had overheard some of his conversation, asked Charlotte Honig
who this man was who had left such a beautiful country as the Soviet
Union to come here. She was promptly told by Charlotte not to ask
such foolish questions. On making further inquiry regarding Krause,
I learned that he had recently married a public school teacher; that
she was still teaching and was a very active Communist.
Mr. Dekom. What did he look like ?
Mr. HuBER. Krause was 6 feet 2 inches in height, about 225 pounds
in weight, 35 years of age. He had light brown hair, blue eyes, large
features, ruddy complexion, hair parted on the left side ; he was clean
shaven and spoke with a Russian accent.
Mr. Dekom. ^Yho are some of the graduates of Wo-Chi-Ca?
Mr. HuBER. People like Pearl Primus were there. She became a
world famous dancer through Camp Wo-Chi-Ca, after which the
Communist Party used her dancing talent at their large mass enter-
tainments.
558 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Mr. Dekom. Was she a member of the party?
INIr. HuBER. Yes. She used to perform for lis quite regularly at
my branch, the James Connolly Branch,
Mr. Dekom. What is the view of the Communist Party on the
teachino; of youngsters?
JMr. Hubek. The party frequently emphasizes that it is to the youth
that the party looks in the future, for leadership, action, and success.
Mr. Dekom. Is the New York Teachers Union (CIO) under Com-
munist control ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, sir.
Mr. Dekom. Have you any estimate of the approximate number of
members of the New York Teachers Union?
Mr. HuBER. Six thousand.
Mr. Dekom. To your own personal knowledge, have you had any
acquaintance with persons who have been engaged in teaching in
New York City who are members of the Communist Party?
Mr. Huber. Yes, sir ; Agnes Sailor and Munya Gutride.
Mr. Dekom, Is Munya Gutride still living?
Mr. Huber. No ; she committed suicide.
Mr. Dekom. Do you know the circumstances surrounding her
suicide ?
Mr. Huber. Yes. It grew out of charges by the board of educa-
tion. When she was called before the board, they asked her of her
Communist activities. She refused to answer on the grounds of con-
stitutional rights against self-incrimination. Following that^ she
went home, turned on the gas, and committed suicide.
There is also David Friedman, Public School 62, New York City,
His wife, Rhetta, is at Hunter College. She is a Ph. D., and teaches
classical languages.
Mr, Dekom. Now, is it your testimony that these people are mem-
bers of the Communist Party, to your own knowledge ?
Mr. Huber. That is right, sir, I have met all of them at Communist
Party meetings.
Mr. Dekom. Were those closed meetings to which only party mem-
bers were admitted ?
Mr, Huber. That is right.
Mr, Dekom, Are you familiar with the efforts of the Communist
Party to indoctrinate members of the armed forces of the United
States during the recent war?
Mr, Huber, Yes, I am. One of the most ambitious plans of the
Communist Party to carry on its subversive work among members of
the armed services was the establishment of an organization called
SOS, Sweethearts of Servicemen. This group consisted of young
women who were instructed to pick up servicemen off the streets and
bring them to the SOS club rooms, where they were given liquor, en-
tertainment, and dancing.
These women would go to any extremes to "entertain" servicemen
and thereby make them more disposed to join in the Communist
movement. They had no morals or moral standards whatsoever,
INIr, Dekom, What evidence have you to indicate the participation
of persons in the armed services in Communist Party affairs and
activities ?
Mr, Huber, I can give you several illustrations, if you want me to,
Mr, Dekom. Go right ahead.
C01VI3VIUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 559
Mr. HuBER. Ill the summer of 1941, comrades of tlie Communist
Party who were drafted into the armed forces were beginning to re-
turn to New York on leave. They invariably visited their sections,
giving complete reports on their respective divisions. Some reports
which I have heard were from veterans of the Abraham Lincoln
Brigade. These men claimed the morale of the soldier was very
poor and camp conditions did nothing to alleviate or raise their
morale. The food was bad, sleeping quarters w^ere overrun w^ith
vermin, and, in one instance, a sentry was bitten by a rat and amputa-
tion of the leg was necessary when blood poisoning set in. They also
reported that the floors of the barracks were so thick with grease
and dirt that a piece of the floor had been cut by the men and sent to
Washington with a protest. These and many other stories were told
and repeated until they were finally used as material for discussions
at open meetings to which the public was invited in an effort to create
a false impression on the general public about the armed forces.
On Sunday, December 26, 1943, I attended a theater x^arty spon-
sored by the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee at tlie Imperial
Theater, West Forty-fifth Street, between Broadway and Eighth Ave-
nue; about 3,000 people were present. The manager sold standing
room only, the demand for admittance became so great, but this was
soon discontinued. The audience was very colorful, every branch of
the United States armed forces being represented : SPARS, WAC's,
WAVES, and quite a number of the USMCWR. Male members of
the armed forces ranged from major to private in the Army, and
lieutenant commander to seaman in the Navy. At least 24 members
of the Canadian Air Force were among the audience. Leading Com-
munists present included James W. Ford, Charles Keith, Sadie Van
Venn, Goldie Young, and Regina Wilson.
On Sunday, July 4, 1943, a fiesta was held at the home of William
(Daily Worker cartoonist) and Sophie Cropper, Mount Arey Road,
Croton-on-the-Hudson. Admission was $1 and about 300 people at-
tended. This affair was sponsored by the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee
Committee. The master of ceremonies was Stanley M. Isaacs, former
borough president of Manhattan. Guests included members of the
armed forces, majors, captains, three first lieutenants. Moe Fishman
told me that a committee led by Helen Bryan was down in Mexico,
making last-minute preparations for the welcome of a group of ref-
ugees who were being transported from Spain by the Joint Anti-
Fascist Refugee Committee. Cropper's home is situated on a hill sur-
rounded by about 4 acres of landscaped grounds ; tables were set on the
lawns where guests ate and watched games and entertainment. Several
French and Soviet sailors were present. Isaacs made the appeal for
funds and stressed the importance of that committee; 2,000 Spanish
Republicans having been freed from concentration camps in North
Africa and were en route to a United States port to be transported to
Mexico. He said that it would cost $200 to transport one person to
Mexico after his arrival in the United States. He asked his guests to
be liberal in their contributions so as to permit the committee to carry
on its work. Several donations of $200 were made, followed by contri-
butions from $100 to $25. Guests were urged to attend a bazaar where
pottery and other trinkets, made by Spanish refugees who are in
Mexico, would be sold.
560 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Mr. Dekom. Did members of the armed services participate in pub-
lic Communist rallies?
Mr. HuBER. One of the most flagrant examples of this was when
Communist members of the armed forces used Army trucks and ieeps
in a demonstration on April 21, 1945. It was an open-air rally, at
2 p. m., at Columbus Circle, sponsored by the Upper West Side Legis-
lative Assembly — a Communist front organization.
On my arrival at Columbus Circle, Nat Shulman, a member of the
county committee, CPA— Communist Political Association— in
charge of arrangements for the rally, was setting up the speakers' plat-
form. He later set up a banner in back of the speakers' stand reading,
Close Eanks Behind President Truman, to Carry Out the Roosevelt
Program."
About 15 minutes after I arrived, a jeep and two Army trucks from
the United States Signal Corps came on the scene, immediately setting
up two motion picture cameras and a microphone on the speakers'
platform. In each Army truck were two first lieutenants and about
15 enlisted men. Eight mounted policemen were about, with a score of
uniformed patrolmen to take care of expected crowds.
While waiting the start of the rally, I observed a score of comrades
I knew from every club on the upper West Side. It began to rain
before the rally started, causing it to be called off by Nat Shulman,
who announced it would be held the following Saturday, April 28,
at 2 p. m., "when stars of the stage, screen, and radio would appear."
The executive committee of the Upper West Side Legislative Assem-
bly—the organization which sponsored the rally— was under complete
control of the Communist Party. In fact, the membership was made
up almost entirely of members of the unity branch of the party— my
own branch— and its executive officers include : Burne Hogarth, chair-
man, Charles A. Collins, Murray Meyerson, Harry Abrams, Aaron
Harris, Sydney Rowen, Goldie Young, and Bernard Weller.
Mr. Dekom. Is Burne Hogarth the man who draws the comic strip ?
Mr. HtTBER. Yes.
On the subject of the armed services, I have here an invitation which
might be of interest to you. It was to a surprise partv giVen by Bill
Dobkin, a member of the waterfront section of the Communist Party,
at the home of Mrs. Barton Emmett in honor of Joe Sutton, another
member of the waterfront section of the Communist Party. The im-
portant thing about this surprise party was that it was to celebrate his
appointment as captain in the United States Army. The money which
was collected from the bar, the admissions, and the buffet dinner at
this party was turned over to the waterfront section of the Communist
Party. There was a Communist Party fund drive on at this time and
this affair was held to make up part of the quota of the waterfront
section. The overwhelming majority of the people present were also
members of the Communist Party, most of whom I knew personally.
They were all my "friends."
I have the invitation which was sent to me here, with a handwritten
notation on the back by Bill Dobkin, which I will be glad to submit
to you.
Mr. Dekom, We will receive that in evidence of exhibit 5A.
Mr. HuBER. On the subject of Joe Sutton, I have here another party
invitation. This one was to celebrate his marriage on June 15, 1946.
COMMUNIST ACTR'ITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 560A
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560b communist activities in alien and national groups
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ih
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i.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 561
This affair, too, was held to raise money for the Communist Party,
and I have with me the actual invitation.
Mr. Dekom. We will receive that in evidence as exhibit 5B. On this
invitation which you have submitted there is a hand-written notation,
"Ask for Sylvia." What is the significance of that?
Mr. HuBER. The affair was held at the home of Sylvia Stone, 190
Riverside Drive, apartment 6-C. There were about 75 people present,
includino- Dr. and Mrs. I. Engel Kaufman, Bill Dobkin, Max Parker,
Mary Mallory, Ray Christianson, organizer of the water-front section
of the Conununist Party; Sam (Kappy) Kaplan, and Goldie Youngs
organizer of the James Connolly branch of the Communist Party.
(The documents referred to were marked "Huber Exhibits 5A. and
5B" and appear opposite this page.)
Mr. Huber. On Friday, January 11, 1946, I attended a cocktail
party given by the Jefferson School of Social Science at the school's
administrative offices on the seventh floor at 575 Sixth Avenue. This
party was given for two reasons : The first to stimulate activity for
the second anniversary dinner which was to be held at the Hotel Penn-
sylvania on ISIonday evening, February 4. From among the 100 guests
who Avere present, 50 tables seating 500 people were pledged. The
second reason was to raise funds for the extension scliool which is
planned for Brooklyn. The speakers for the evening included Staff
Sgt. Howard Bern, who was on the staff of Stars and Stripes, the
Army publication. He related an experience which occurred while
he was in England. He said that he had received several progressive
books published by the International Publishers, which were sent to
him by Howard Selsam, director of Jefferson School. Bern said he
circulated these books amongst the GI"s and their interest and demand
for more of the same type of reading material was so great that he had
to request Selsam to send additional books in order to satisfy the
demand. He added that these books were so well read and circulated
amongst the men that they became worn out and had to be discarded.
He then introduced a Major Quigley, whose acquaintance he had made
because of these books. Quigley told the people at the party that after
he had read most of these books he became so interested in their origin
that he inquired of Bern where they came from. On being told that
they had been sent by Howard Selsam, the director of Jefferson School
of Social Science, Quigley said he believed such a school was a neces-
sity, and that when he returned to the States he would not only visit
the school but would support its existence and the principles which
it advocates as much as he possibly could. The Jefferson Chorus, led
by Director Grennell, entertained with several songs. Among the
guests present were: INIr. and INIrs. Robert Engel, David Golclway,
Howard Selsam, Louis Lerner, John INIcManus, Josephine Truslow
Adams, Frances Franklin, Charlotte Honig, Regina Wilson, Alex-
ander Trachtenberg, Sam Prago. Harold Collins, and Harry Martel.
Mr. Dekom. Were similar efforts made to work among merchant
seamen ?
Mr. Huber. The Communist Party tried to establish cells on all
merchant vessels with a particular view to indoctrinating new mer-
chant seamen who were being graduated from the merchant seamen
school at Sheepshead Bay.
One of the ways they worked on the new men was to hold parties
for the graduates on shore. There would always be young women
562 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
party members to take the new seamen in tow, ply them with liquor,
and keep them under their wings until they became completely in-
toxicated. These parties were repeated until the seamen became
used to dropping in and until they "paired off" with one particular
girl. This girl was to a large extent responsible for the indoctrina-
tion job. As in the case of servicemen, the girls went to any ex-
tremes to land their victims.
This tactic — of using women — was worked out around 1941, because
the party was having difficulty in recruiting longshoremen, teamsters,
and seamen. They were using men organizers. In 1941, it was decided
at a closed meeting of my branch, which I attended, to send women
into the waterfront area for this work. This was a very successful
move and recruiting picked up considerably.
Even in the distribution of leaflets, we f oui
Men distributors were often driven away from shops or threatened
or even beaten up by plant guards and foremen. But, we found that
women would not be subject to this kind of treatment and could stand
at gates and hand out Communist Party literature without being
molested.
Of course, this was only a part of their work. They were prepared
to do — and they did — anything that the party assigned or demanded.
As I have already pointed out, there was no such thing as morals in
carrying out party work or in organization activities.
Mr. Dekom. Do you know of any attempts by the Communist
Party to infiltrate defense industry ?
Mr. HuBER. I know that in 1941 — even after we were supposed to
be allies with Soviet Kussia — a large number of Communists were
obtaining employment in defense industries, assisted by the United
Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers Union (CIO) through the
following method. A comrade who was employed in nondefense
work would quit his job and apply for social security. He would
then receive an application for admittance to a school from the union ;
at the expiration of his schooling, he w^ould be given a job in a de-
fense industry. The school these people attended was the Brooklyn
Technical High School. Graduates of this school were employed at
Sperry Gyroscope.
Mr. Dekom. Does the Communist Party maintain any special edu-
cational facilities to indoctrinate labor union leaders ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes. The Jefferson School of Social Science, 5Y5 Sixth
Avenue, New York, is set up as the Communist Party's chief indoctrin-
ation school, with particular emphasis on labor unionism. I can
illustrate this best, I think, by describing to you a meeting which took
place at the Jefferson School on December 15, 1945.
It was in the nature of a cocktail party, and about 100 people were
present. The guests who were present were the most active trade
unionists throughout the CIO and the AFL and were invited for the
express purpose of receiving instruction to recruit new pupils for
the school out of their various trade unions.
Howard Selsam, director of the school, had leaflets and cards dis-
tributed to everyone present and urged the guests to post the leaflets
on their shop bulletin boards. The leaflet read: "News from tlie
Jefferson School of Social Science. Courses designed for labor. Trade
union principles and practice. History of the American labor move-
COMIVIUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 563
meiit. Trade union organization problems. Registration for these
courses begins Wednesday, January 2, 1946."
Selsam further asked that the cards handed out be distributed to
all trade union members in the various unions. The cards read, "At-
tention, please. Winter term registration begins Wednesday, January
2, 1946; 130 courses in trade unionism, economics, history, science,
philosophy, literature, music and languages."
Selsam requested that each guest ask his office chairman for time
at the next union meeting to make an announcement concerning these
labor courses of the Jefferson school. He said that what he was really
asking them to do was to spend time thinking about how they could
tell people whom they contact every day about the Jefferson school
and the need for more and more labor study of the type offered by the
Jefferson school.
Saul Mills commented that, with labor threatened by the reaction-
ary elements in our Government, it was fortunate for the people of
the country that such a school as the Jefferson school exists to train
and inform the masses of the threat to the labor movement. He at-
tackex^ President Truman, saying that Truman was on the side of big
business and stood for the destruction of trade unions. He, too, urged
the guests to spread the word about the trade-union courses among
their trade-union comrades, encouraging them to enroll for these
courses and learn what is happening to the labor movement.
Guests present included Alexander Trachtenberg, Abe Heller, Louis
Lerman, Josephine Truslow Adams, Regina Wilson, Dave Goldway,
Harry Sacher, Mr. and Mrs. Doxey Wilkerson, Frederick V. Field,
Max Yergen, and Lewis Merrill.
Mr. Dekom. In your statement, you have made a number of refer-
ences to the work of the Communist Party among industrial workers.
Specifically, what are some of the goals and programs of the Com-
munist Party in this field, in the field of labor ?
Mr. HuBER. On the labor front, I wish to point out that 8 years
ago I sat in on a Communist meeting where plans were laid to cap-
ture transportation, communications, teamsters, warehousemen, radio,
and motion pictures. That the party has succeeded in realizing such
ambitious plans would be an understatement, for I can now see that
unions in these industries have been taken over or infiltrated by the
Communist party.
Thus the party has within its power the means to call and hold ex-
tensive strikes should the occasion demand it; strikes which could
well be the training ground of a revolution for the overthrow of our
Government and the establishment of communism.
Communists who were considered by the party to be their top or-
ganizers were being sent to take positions in the railroad brother-
hoods. Here they would use the time-worn, but successful, Communist
method of spreading their propaganda advocating better working
conditions, shorter hours, increases in salary, less profits for em-
ployers, etc., in order to secure the election of Communist officials in
that union,
Mr. Dekom. The Communists will use legitimate labor demands as
a screen behind which to operate ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, sir.
Mr. Dekom. You don't mean to imply that improving working
conditions is necessarily a Communist enterprise ?
564 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Mr. HuBER. No, sir.
Once the Communist leaders gain control of the union, they will
swiftly oust the present clean management of the union, being left
free to carry on their Communist political propaganda. Thus another
link in the chain will be added for the day when all the links will join
in the revolution and socialism.
Mr. Dekom. Is it your belief and your knowledge that the Commu-
nist Party is working for the overthrow of the Government by revolu-
tionary means?
Mr. Hup.ER. Yes, sir.
Mr. Dekom. How do you arrive at that conclusion ?
Mv. HuBER. We have been told that.
Mr. Dekom, You have been told tliat in the party ?
]\Ir. Hui?ER. Yes, through th.e years.
Mr, Dekom. By the party leadership?
Mr. Huber. That is right.
Mr. Dekom, Is that the general understanding of all party
members ?
Mr, Huber. Yes, of all part}^ members.
Mr. Dekom. Is any attempt made to hide that from party members ?
Mr, Huber, No, sir,
Mr. Dekom. So that if a person is in the Communist Party, he would
know that that is the goal of the organization ; and he is expected to
participate in force and violence when the day comes ?
Mr. Huber. That is right.
]Mr. Dekom. As you realize, Mr. Huber, the question of force and
violence is of particular importance in the consideration of legislation
for the control of Communist and other subversive activity. I am
going to ask you, therefore, to go into this phase of the problem
more thoroughly, I ask you to cite specifically, instances in which
force and violence were taught, advocated, or discussed in party meet-
ings or party circles.
Mr. Huber. Yes, sir ; I can do that.
Force and violence are considered as the means by which the Com-
munist Party will come into power. It is known and taught in the
party. Every party member understands that.
First of all, I might repeat the statement I made about the Com-
munist Party's new members' school. On March 6, 1940, I attended
class under Charles Cook. He was discussing the "struggle for peace."
He made this statement, which bears on the topic of force and violence :
If this country becomes involved in an imperialist war, a civil war will ensue
to stop such a war, because the capitalists will arm the masses, who will then
turn their guns on them.
Mr. Schroder. What do the Communists mean by "imperialist war"?
Mr, Huber, That, sir, is the Communist double-talk for any war in
which any coimtry except the Soviet Union is involved. It particularly
refers to any war of defense by this country of ours against Soviet
aggression.
You remember, when the European countries were fighting against
Hitler, it was an imperialist war in Communist language — until the
Nazis and the Soviets fell out witli each other. Then it was no longer
an imperialist war, but a war to save democracy — democracy, Soviet
style.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 565
So when they say "imperialist war," they mean any war — even a war
of defense — in which the United States might get involved. And the
point is that they hope to turn such a war into a revolution for the
overthrow of the Government — while our men are fighting on the
battlefront — by force and violence. That is their aim; that is what
they teach party members.
Mr. Dekom. Will you continue, please, giving us any other examples
which show the advocacy of force and violence by the Communist
Party.
Mr. HuBER. Yes, I will ; there are many cases.
I might relate a statement made by one of the top-ranking Com-
munist Party officials during the period when Earl Browder, national
secretary, was in jail for passport fraud. As you will remember, the
party organized a vast network of rallies and fronts in order to bring
pressureon the White House to release Earl Browder, who was later
given a pardon by President Eoosevelt.
On February 24, 1941, there was a free Earl Browder rally at the
Mecca Temple on Forty-fifth Street. Al Lannon, organizer of th&
water-front section of the Communist Party, was chairman, and Eliza-
beth Gurley Flynn, member of the national committee of the party,,
was the principal speaker. She told the assembled comrades :
We will free Earl Browder, for we will make so much trouble in the shops, in
the factories, and any place there is one or more of us, that this administration
will not only free him, but will be glad to do so.
There is only one thing I'm sure of, and that is that Earl Browder will not
serve his term. In other words, I am not as sure of President Roosevelt serving,
his term as I am of Earl Browder not serving his.
She denounced judges of the United States Supreme Court, calling
them stooges of AVall Street and the Eoosevelt administration, puppets,
who jump when a string is pulled.
Continuing, she said:
If this administration thinlvs that by putting our leaders in prison it will silence
the Communist Party, they have another guess coming. The Communist Party
has planted the seed among the American people and the roots have taken hold
throughout the working-class movement. It is too late now for the Wall Street
bankers to do anything about it. They have had their day ; our day is the
future, and not the distant future eitlier.
. In connection with Camp Wo-Chi-Ca, I told you about a meeting
I had with Al Lannon at a restaurant at Twelfth Street and Univer-
sity Place. In the discussion, something came up which is another
example along this line, showing the intention of the Communist Party
to use force and violence against this Nation. Lannon spoke of the
fighting qualities of the Red Army of Soviet Russia and said it was too
bad so many of its men had to be sacrificed for such a purpose as the
war then going on. He said it was too bad that the Red Army was
not held in reserve, to be used against the United States. Lannon
always spoke of the revolution which will happen in the United States
and is waiting for the day when the people of the United States will
revolt and overthrow this form of government. He seemed sure that
this would happen as soon as Stalin was victorious.
Lannon spoke of a recent meeting of the America First Committer
in Queens, where 27 Catholic priests allegedly appeared on the speak-
ers' platform. He said the Catholic hierarchy is a vicious element
which will do the same to the United States as it did to Spain — that
-50— pt. 2 8
566 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
is, sell out to the Fascists. He added that when the proper time comes
we would "take care of them and their kind."
Of even more significance is another statement made to me by Al
Lannon — who is now a member of the national committee of the Com-
munist Party. One evening after a section meeting which was held
at Sixteenth Street and Irving Place— the Irving Plaza meeting
rooms — we were discussing party activities, and he said that he hopes
that he lives until the time of the revolution so that he will be able
to go to the Foley Square Office of the Federal Bureau of Investiga-
tion and mow down as many FBI agents as possible with a machine
gun.
Mr, DEKOisr. Where is Al Lannon now?
Mr. HuBER. To the best of my knowledge he went to Baltimore, Md.
He was transferred from New York to Baltimore by the party around
1945.
I wish also at this time to state that, in my opinion, the Communist
Party and its fellow travelers and sympathizers are today so strong
that public-safety agencies in most of our large cities do not have
forces sufficiently adequate to cope with disorders wliich might arise
through the instigation of the party.
Mr. Dekom. Can you cite such an example ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, sir.
In 1939, 1 saw the utter disregard which the Communist Party had
for police orders and the New York City police forces during a Com-
munist demonstration in a march on city hall. Police tried to halt
the demonstrators and a hand-to-hand fight resulted. When mounted
policemen appeared on the scene, the Communists disregarded their
personal safety, dragging the policemen off the horses and jabbing
the animals with hatpins. It was an uncontrolled demonstration
with the Communists apparently holding the upper hand for more
than 2 hours, until additional police reinforcements arrived and
stopped the disorders.
Today, with their numbers stronger than ever before, with veterans
swelling its ranks, and as a result of the constant vilification of law-
enforcement agencies carried on by the Communist press, I believe
that maintaining law and order would be a most difficult task.
Mr. Dekom. Can you cite any recent example of such incidents?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, the Peekskill incident, the Paul Robeson concert
that was sponsored by the Civil Rights Congress, a Communist front.
Mr. Dekom. And you believe that that is a clemonstration of the
difficulty of enforcing law under conditions of Communist agitation?
Mr. HuBER. That is right.
Stricter attention should be paid to the danger which lies slumber-
ing in Negro communities. Throughout the United States, such
Negro sections are being used by the Communist Party rabble rousers
and propagandists as a potent weapon of dissatisfaction. Negroes
are promised social equality by Communists, and are being brought
into the party fold where they are being educated to sympathize with
the principles of communism and "equality."
In Harlem, Negroes are so aroused at the present time by Commu-
nist agitators, such as Ben Davis, Henry Winston, and others, that a
spark might be sufficient to set off race riots in New York City.
Mr. Dekom. What is the expectancy of success of the Communists
themselves?
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 567
Mr. HuBER. They were definitely convinced — and this was always
brought out in party circles — that the Communist Party would even-
tually and inevitably rule this country.
Let me give you a small illustration of this. On January 22, 1941,
there was a mass rally of the IWO on behalf of Allen Shaw and 12
others arrested in Oklahoma for criminal syndicalism. Speakers
were Muriel Draper; Rev. William Spofforcl, chairman of the Church
League for Industrial Democracy; Frederick V. Field, executive sec-
retary of American Peace Mobilization; Eugene P. Connolly, chair-
man of the ALP; John P. Davis, executive secretary of National
Negro Congress; and Congressman Vito Marcantonio. Reverend
Spofford, though a clergyman, told off -color stories, which put the au-
dience in good spirits. He told how w^hen he is accused of being a Red
or Communist he admits being one, saying they should be one, too, as
eventually we will all be Communists.
This is fairly representative of the attitude of the Communists. In
party circles the talk is always "when the Communists take over the
United States," not "if they take over." In all their talks, you can
see that they expect to rule this country as well as the whole world.
Mr. Dekom. The next question of interest which I would like to
have you discuss, Mr. Huber, is the conspiratorial nature of the Com-
munist Party. You are undoubtedly familiar with the charge that
the Communist Party is a conspiracy rather than a formal political
party.
Mr. Huber. That is absolutely true. The Communist Party is a
conspiracy organized for the destruction of any free government in
the world. To my mind, nothing illustrates better the conspiratorial
nature of the Communist Party than the manner in which meetings
were held, particularly during the 1940-41 period, when the party
was in great disfavor because of the tie-up of Russia with the Nazis.
The party was very much afraid that it would have to go under-
grotind, and plans were made to take care of that situation. Our
meetings were held secretly in cellars, abandoned buildings, lofts, and
private homes in order that the party members would not be discovered.
We met in groups of five, constantly changing our meeting place.
Mr. Dekom. Can you designate specifically some of the places where
you met?
Mr. Huber. Yes ; I can. One of these was a dilapidated loft build-
ing that was unoccupied but for one tenant, a Gertrude Kaplan,
at 679 Broadway. In order to bring out the description of this meet-
ing place, it is necessary to state that at one meeting held there it was
necessary to adjourn because of the noise made by the rats. There
were so many rats in the building that we couldn't hold the meeting
and had to adjourn.
Another meeting place was a cellar at 347 East Seventeenth Street,
where we met on March 12, 1940. In order to get to this cellar, it was
necessary to walk through one building, across a yard more than 50
feet long — it was pitch dark at the time — into a second building, and
then down into a cellar. This was a very special meeting, a celebra-
tion on behalf of the Soviet Union, and 38 people were present. The
meeting was opened by Sam (Kappy) Kaplan, organizer of the team-
ster concentration branch of the Communist Party to which I belonged.
Instead of being opened in the usual way by reports, Kaplan opened
568 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
the meeting by announcing that he was very happy to report that the
news of the Soviet Union's victoi-y in Finland was authentic. Because
of the occasion he called for refreshments, and wine and soda were
served. He offered a toast, "Long live the Communist international
organization of the working class. Long live the Communist Party.
Long live the world revolution." He then ordered an intermission to
enable the comrades to discuss the victory and also to enable Comrade
Ann Reese to phone her husband, Henry Boldt, vice president of the
Daily Worker, for the latest news on the war in Finland.
Kaplan complimented our branch for the good work it was doing
supplying teamsters with the Daily Worker and pamphlets. He cited
an instance where a teamster union, AFL affiliate, held a meeting on
Sunday, March 10, 1940, at the Hotel Diplomat to arrange for a rally
on April 16 against moves to involve the United States in war. He
said that the teamsters' union was important for its strength which
could enable it to tie up food and other fields, as shown not long ago.
By way of illustration, he said that if the teamsters strike, boats do
not load or unload, warehouses are at a standstill, and shortages of
supplies and other commodities become acute.
To further illustrate this business of conspiracy, I would like to
discuss the plans which the Communist Party made in 1940 and after
World War II for the setting up of an underground apparatus to take
the place of the legal apparatus in the event the party would be out-
lawed or threatened with Government action.
In 1940, when the Communist Party was threatened, this under-
ground apparatus was perfected. Each particular group bought
mimeograph machines and purchased full sets of Communist Party
literature to have available the theoretical works of the Communist
movement for ready reference.
On March 18, 1941, following the weekly meeting of the teamster
branch, Kaplan told me that many members of the Communist Party
who found they were unable to continue attendance at meetings be-
cause of their civil-service positions still continued payment of their
dues and contributions and would continue that course of action until
the current attack on the Communist Party ceased.
On Saturday, March 22, 1941, the water front section of the Com-
munist Party received a communication from the State committee of
the Communist Party with orders for all comrades to be instructed
at the next meeting to dispose of all Communist literature they then
possessed at home. Comrades who were present when this order was
received decided that the best plan would be to store their libraries
in warehouses. During that month the number of comrades moving
from one locality to another was most noticeable.
I sat in on a party discussion of the deportation proceedings which
were pending against Harry Bridges. Several leading Communists
of the water-front section were present. It was revealed that the Com-
munist Party had set plans in motion for a general strike among labor
unions in the State of California as a protest in the event that Harry
Bridges was ordered deported. This plan was decided upon only after
much deliberation by the national committee of the Communist Party,
which conceded that any other kind of protest would fail to save
Bridges from being deported.
On Tuesday, March 25, 1941, at the weekly meeting of the water-
front section. Communist Party, held at 221 West Twenty-first Street,.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 569
Kaplan informed comrades that, with the increasing attacks being
made on the party, branch meetings would be held more infrequently,
and that as an alternative the branch would meet in small groups.
He said that the water-front section was in receipt of a communication
from Ferdinand Smith, of the NMU, that Government agents had
been active along the water front, and for that reason seamen would
have to discontinue Daily Worker and other Communist literature
distributions to teamsters and longshoremen along the water front.
Such distribution was then assigned to the teamster branch com-
rades, in addition to house-to-house distribution, which, to the date,
had been highly successful in recruiting new members.
Right after the war, my club, which had a membership of 330, was
broken down into 3 separate clubs of about 100 members each. These
three clubs, in turn, were broken down into groups of from five to
eight members, with one member designated as a captain. These
small groups, in the beginning, met once a month at the homes of
various members to become acquainted with this new set-up. On the
other 3 times a month we met in our groups of 100. Then, as time
went on, the procedure changed so that we met 3 times a month in
groups of from 5 to 8, and only once a month as a group of 100.
Mr. Dekom. We will now suspend, Mr. Huber, and will resume
tomorrow morning at 10 : 30 a. m.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1949
Mr. Dekom. We will now continue your testimony.
Does the Communist Party maintain any intelligence or investigat-
ing units, either for the purpose of what might be called counter-intel-
ligence or for the purpose of obtaining incriminating information on
persons ?
Mr. Huber. The Communist Party certainly does. First of all,
they keep a complete record of the life of every member. I think
you already have had some testimony on that subject.^ Secondly,
the party maintains a "research department" for counter-intelligence
work. If I may, I will give you two specific examples from my party
experience to show you exactly what this work is.
Mr. Dekom. Yes ; we want you to do that. We want in every in-
stance, wherever possible, for you to give concrete cases, so that the
information before this subcommittee will be as direct and exact as
possible.
Mr. Huber. Yes, sir. Here are the two examples.
On Thursday, January 15, 1942, while speaking to Charlotte Honig
at Twelfth Street and University Place, she called my attention to a
passer-by who was entering the national headquarters of the Com-
munist Party at 35 East Twelfth Street. She said that this man was
an investigator for the party who watched the activities of the FBI.
She intimated that the Federal Building at Foley Square was being
kept under surveillance. She said that the party knew that it was be-
ing continually investigated and had, therefore, begun a counter-
investigation of its own. On questioning her further as to the extent of
their activities and the length of time this had been going on, she said
that she did not know. However, she added that the Communist Party
See the testimony of Louis F. Budenz, p. 217.
570 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
investigating staff was on its toes all the time and was doing a good
job.
On Sunday, January 18, 1942, I learned from Charlotte Honig that
Jimmy Keller was in charge of the investigation staff of the Com-
munist Party and was responsible only to Roy Hudson. Keller was
formerly a section organizer of the industrial section. Very little
was known about the activities of that group other than that personnel
changes were frequent. Questioned as to the source of her informa-
tion regarding the FBI, Honig said that the matter had been revealed
at a gathering of comrades at the home of her son-in-law, Bill Dobkin,
where she resided.
A large part of this investigative work, too, is the unearthing of
information with which they can smear persons who are known to be
against the Communist Party.
Mr. Dekom. You are familiar with the picketing of the Federal
Courthouse at Foley Square during the recent trial of the 11 top Com-
munists, and other disorders connected therewith. From your own
knowledge, can you give the subcommittee any information on Com-
munist disruptions or attempts to disrupt the administration of justice
in this country ?
Mr. HuBER. I can give you a specific case from my own experience.
When several members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade were arrested
for disorderly conduct, resulting from a demonstration in front of the
Spanish consulate, we were given orders by the Communist Party
officials to attend the trial and disrupt the proceedings.
Mr. Dekom. What was the nature of your instructions?
Mr. HuBER. To cause disturbances by coughing, moving, or talking
so as to distract the court during statements made by the prosecution.
On the other hand, we were told to keep very quiet while the defense
was carrying on. The situation got so bad, we made so much noise,
that Magistrate John McGee stated that he would have fo clear the
court unless the disturbance stopped. This forced the party people to
quiet down some, but they still made as much noise as they could get
away with.
Mr. Dekom. The Communist Party has, in recent years, tried to
create the impression that the Daily Worker is not a tool of, or an
organ of the party itself. Would you please comment on that?
Mr. HuBER. That impression is completely false. The Daily Worker
has always been, and is today, the official organ of the Communist
Party. Rather than give you my opinion on this, I would like to
submit in evidence a bulletin put out by the party in 1946 which
makes the position of the Daily Worker perfectly clear.
Mr. Dekom. Was this handed to you by a party functionary as a
member of the party?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, sir.
Mr. Dekom. With the permission of the chairman we will make
that a part of the record at this point as exhibit 6.
(The document was marked "Huber Exhibit 6" and is as follows:)
The Worker and Daily Worker Plan
At the national committee meeting of our party the main discussion centered
around the problems of the home front and how to mobilize the people to defeat
the disrupters within our Nati(ni. In this task the Daily Worker plays a tre-
mendous role.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 571
Tlio Daily Worker's clear-cut policy in its fight against Lewis, in exposing the
fifth column activities in Detroit, shows tlie way for strengthening the home
front. The Daily Worker is more and more becoming an indispensable weapon
not only in the hands of Communists, but in the hands of every anti-Fascist.
It is in this light that our convention places the role of the press in the fore-
ground of its deliberations and makes some organizational proposals for in-
creasing the circulation of the Daily Worker.
1. Every Party Member a Reader of the Daily Worker :
(a) Every party member is to fill out a pledge card stating that he will
read the Daily Worker every day. On this pledge card he is to indicate
the newsstand at which he will buy the paper.
( h ) Every new member will receive a free mail subscription for the Daily
AVorker for 1 month. However, the new member is to fill out a special form
expressing his or her desire to receive the paper.
(c) The club executive to be responsible for checking on the above steps.
2. Build Street Sales of the Daily Worker to Strengthen Home Front :
(a) Every section, club, and branch should pick a specific corner or block
in tlie neighborhood of its activities at which it will organize a daily sale of
the paper.
(6) Sale should be so organized as to suit the comrades, either day or
evening.
(c) In organizing these street sales we should involve as close to 100 per-
cent of the membership as possible. This can be done if every member will
give one evening, or even 1 hour, a month to this work.
3. Make Your Newsstand Dealer a Booster for the Daily Worker :
(a) Pick the busiest corner in the territory and organize to build the cir-
culation at the newsstand on that corner.
(b) When street sales are organized close to such newsstands, it is ad-
visable that the proceeds of sales should go to the dealer.
4. The Daily Worker Is the Club's Guide to Action for Victory :
(a) Once a month the club should review its work on the press for the
past month and take organizational steps that will guarantee the steady
growth of the paper.
(6) In these monthly reports it is necessary that the reporter include
highlights of articles and stories that appeared during the month so as to
show concretely how tne Daily Worker helped to guide us in our everyday
activity and thus integrate the political content of the paper with the circu-
lation drive.
5. Funds for Our Press Are Funds for Victory :
(«) In order to make sure that the subscription drive is part of the fund
drive arrangements have been made to credit every Worker sub to the fund
drive quota of every branch and club.
(&) Manhattan County has a subscription quota of 3,500, which can be
easily reached providing every section, branch, and club accepts its quota
and organizes its campaign.
Following is proposed quota for Worker subs by sections :
1-2
3-5___.
7-9-11.
4-6___-
8
12
14
450
450
450
150
200
350
100
16
22
23
Lower Harlem-
East Harlem-
Upper Harlem-
100
150
300
150
100
500
Mr. Dekom. Have you followed, and are you familiar with, the
twists and turns of the Communist Party line during the past decade ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, of course. One of the basic requirements of a
Communist Party member is to slavishly follow all the dictates of the
party, regardless of how ridiculous, inconsistent, or unwise they might
seem.
I remember the feverish activity of the party during the period
of the Hitler-Stalin pact, when the old anti-Fascist activity was
dropped in favor of a peace program which had the effect of aiding
the Nazis and Soviets alike. The American Peace Mobilization kept
572 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
a steady stream of delegations in Washington under different com-
mittee names, calling on Senators and Congressman, protesting against
this country's participation in the war and the giving of aid to Great
Britain. It tried to have peace committees established in all unions.
When this was accomplished, they intended holding a peoples' conven-
tion, similar to the one held in England on January 12, 1941. They
recruited peace organizations from civic, church, and other groups
which were unaware of the true aims of American Peace ]\Iobilization.
Typical of the tone of the Communist Party's propaganda was a
speech made by Sam (Kappy) Kaplan, organizer of the teamster
concentration branch of the Communist Party, at a party meeting
in the home of Jean Sayre, 31:7 East Seventeenth Street, New York,
on Tuesday, March 5, 1940. Kaplan said that President Roosevelt
had sent Sumner AVelles, Under Secretary of State, to Europe in
order to break the agreement between Germany and Soviet Russia by
getting in contact with the German ruling class. He also said that
Britain and France declared war on Germany in order to break the
Soviet-German pact. He said Roosevelt was trying to start trouble
against the Soviet Union by different methods which would make
Wall Street the most ]30werful factor in world politics and would re-
sult in enormous profits for munitions makers. He concluded with
the statement that Roosevelt and Welles were a threat to world
peace.
On Wednesday, June 19, 1940, the water front section of the Com-
munist Party met at 230 Seventh Avenue, and there was a discus-
sion about $18,000 which was sent to the Communist Party in Ger-
many by the Communist Party in the United States. Charles Keith,
section organizer, told of a communication he had received from the
State committee of the Communist Party congratulating the seamen's
branch on its handling of antiwar work and hoping that it would
continue to be No. 1 on the list in the recruiting drive just begun.
Plans were laid for a letter-writing campaign to Jergens Lotion to
threaten them with a boycott if Walter Winchell did not stop his un-
neutral attitude toward the war in his radio talks.
You will be interested, perhaps, in knowing of another incident.
On IMonday, July 1, 1940, Muriel Draper, a member of the Commu-
nist Party and mother of dancer Paul Draper, told of attending a
meeting to raise funds for the Communist-controlled American Youth
Congress in Wisconsin. She said that the women at this meeting
sympathized with Mrs. Roosevelt for having a husband such as
Franklin D. Roosevelt, but that since Mrs. Roosevelt was so liberal
in her ways and views, they could not help but take her into their
hearts. Of course, the implication there was that the President was
being an anti-Soviet warmonger during the Commu-Nazi period.
Because of this policy of the party, they began to lose popularity
and to stir up a good deal of opposition. I remember a meeting of the
teamsters' branch, water front section of the Communist Party, at the
home of Ann Boldt, 10 Monroe Street, on Tuesday, July 9, 1940. One
comrade reported that the previous week's assignments to distribute
the Daily Worker to teamsters along the water front had not been very
encouraging. Teamsters were refusing the papers, cursing the dis-
tributors, and telling them to go back to Russia. In one instance,
a teamster took the paper, spat on it and set fire to it with a match.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 573
Kaplan made light of this report, asserting that the i^apers must have
been distributed in the wrong locality and not where the party gen-
erally concentrated. When the comrades insisted that this was not
so, Kaplan cut them short.
The American Peace Mobilization's march on Washington, of
January 31, and February 1, 1941, was the largest denionstration
this organization ever held in Washington. As in previous demon-
strations, there was widespread picketing and scores of delegations
called on Senators and Congressmen to let them know they disap-
proved of a possible United States entry into war and aid to Great
Britain.
People employed at the New York City office of American Peace
Mobilization informed me that the executive committee had been
greatly satisfied with the results of previous demonstrations in Wash-
ington, which led to the organization of the 1941 demonstration.
This demonstration had been originally planned for the week end of
January 15, but as this would have conflicted with the Lenin memorial
meeting at Madison Square Garden on January 13, it was decided to
advance the date.
One of the largest delegations in this march on Washington was
from IWO ; the NMU also sent a large delegation, theirs usually being
the most colorful and noisiest.
Mr. Dekom. What happened after June 22, 1941, when the Nazis
and Soviets went to war with each other?
Mr. HuBER. The whole picture changed, of course.
On June 24, 1941, the weekly meeting, teamsters branch, waterfront
section of the Communist Party was held at 221 West Twenty-first
Street, with Miriam Sayre presiding. This was the first meeting of
the branch after hostilities broke out between Germany and the Soviet
Union, and the entire meeting was devoted to a discussion of this
subject.
Sayre plainly stated that all activities tending to antagonize help
to the Soviet Union must stop. All comrades were urged to get their
labor unions to appeal to the President for immediate aid to the Soviet
Union.
The Communist Party was to seek the support of all organized labor,
regardless of affiliations with the party, to rally support for the Soviet
Union. The general feeling among the comrades was to call off all at-
tacks on the administration, at the same time using this opportunity to
recruit new members and build a stronger party throughout the United
States. Plans were made for mass rallies to gain support of the general
public for aid to the Soviet Union. .There was no doubt among the
comrades but that the Soviet Union would emerge victorious and the
Communist Party would emerge from the war stronger than ever.
The July 1, 1941, meeting of^he water front section accented the com-
plete about face of the Communist Party line following the attack on
Russia by Germany. All-out aid to Great Britain was then advocated.
Winston Churchill was discussed in glowing terms as a defender of
democracy.
Regardmgthe then present administration in Washington, the party
said that our leaders in Washington were of the finest, and when
Roosevelt was mentioned, it was in terms of praise and as a great leader.
The party then favored conscription, even to the point of extending
the period of training for the duration of the emergency. The party
574 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
began working for full participation in the war by the United States
armed forces to insure full aid to the Soviet Union.
Mr. Dekom. Was the possibility of a Soviet defeat discussed in
party circles ?
Mr. HuBER. On November 5, 1941, I had lunch with Al Lannon,
Communist Party organizer of the water front section, and presently
a member of the national committee of the Communist Party. At
the time Lannon advised me that the Communist Party had issued in-
structions to its leaders, and particularly to industrial leaders, regard-
ing Communist Party policy in the event of either the Soviet Union's
defeat, if forced to make peace or if the United States failed to get
into the war and open a western front.
These orders were to immediately conduct strikes and commit sabo-
tage wherever possible. Lannon said the only reason the party was
cooperating with the then present administration was because of the
help we could give to the Soviet Union,
Mr. Dekom. Was there any pretense made in party circles that
the wartime policy of cooperation was genuine and lasting?
Mr. HuBER. No; there was not. On January 18, 1944, I attended
a membership meeting of the Eleventh Assembly District Club, Com-
munist Party, at 2744 Broadway. Bernard Weller presided. The
membership turned out fully for this meeting because of the announce-
ment that Sam Barron would clarify for them the new policies of the
party. The clubroom was filled to capacity. On calling the meeting
to oi'der, Weller announced that slips of paper would be distributed on
which comrades were to write questions they wished answered. Bar-
ron was in charge of the workers school, which later became the
Jefferson School of Social Science.
After studying the questions submitted, Barron started to analyze
present conditions by quoting from Lenin, who, he said, offered to
compromise with the Kerensky government 45 days before the revolu-
tion in the Soviet Union. However, the revolution broke out before
Lenin could send this message. This, he said, is what the Communist
Party is doing in America, compromising with capitalists, which will
tend to confuse them and throw them off guard. He said that the
capitalists of the United States must not be warned, but must be
made to pay for their crimes against the masses.
The postwar change in the Communist Party line was first made
known on a large scale at a special meeting of the New York County
Committee of the Communist Party at Manhattan Center on Monday,
June 4, 1945. About 3,000 people were present. The chairman was
Sam Wiseman, who said that the Communist Party membership had
cooperated with the capitalist class and had found out that it did
not pay. He commented that the capitalists were swollen with profits
and stood ready to take millions of dollars out of the hides of the
people. He informed the audience that the change in policy of the
national board's resolution would not be open to discussion at that
meeting since it would be taken up at branch meetings to be called in
the near future, and which would be open to members only. He at-
tacked the "avaricious" groups of our own capitalist class, terming
them "now our own home front." He then introduced Earl Browder.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 575
Browder began by apologizing for not having a written speech, and,
speaking extemporaneously, stated,
Let us tell the representatives of the press together, right here and now,
that we promise them that out of this discussion is going to come a stronger
unity and greater organization than ever before.
Applause in approval lasted for 10 minutes.
Browder stated that the crisis at the San Francisco UNO Con-
ference must be interpreted as a rapidly crystallizing threat to or-
ganized world relations, not upon the principles of Dumbarton Oaks
or Yalta, but upon the principles of antagonism and hostility between
America and the Soviet Union. He accused Senator Arthur Vanden-
berg of trying to write into the statutes of the United Nations such
provisions as would enable him to rally opposition to those statutes
when they came before the United States Senate for ratification. He
said :
If the principle of the Big Five veto power is defeated at San Francisco, that
defeat will be used to prevent Senate ratification of the United Nations Organ-
ization. If this happens, there are only two alternatives to the policy of Soviet-
American friendship laid down by Roosevelt which President Truman is pledged
to continue. One is to transform the present war into a British-American War
against the Soviet Union. The other is the development of an armed peace of
the garrote-and-club variety in which hostilities will be postponed for a short
while.
He stated further that the Roosevelt policy would be carried
through only if the American people took a hand in international
diplomacy and demanded a sharp correction of the policies being
pursued by their delegates at San Francisco.
Robert Minor urged the audience to buy volume 23 of Lenin's Col-
lected Works, which had just been translateci into English. The
entire 500 copies on hand were sold.
A question and answer period followed the meeting wherein Brow-
der answered questions from the audience. When asked if Stettinius
(Edward R. Stettinius, then Secretary of State) were acting in the
best interests of the American people, Browder answered by attack-
ing Stettinius.
He was asked whether the war in Japan would become an imperial-
ist war if the United States delegation continued to oppose the Soviet
Union. He said that this was the kind of question which Social
Democrats or Trotsky ists would ask, but replied, "The question is
premature." He then said, "The Soviet delegation is even acting
in the interests of the American bourgeoisie, unless they have gone
quite as insane as Hitler." He shouted, "The Japanese war is not
over yet," which could be interpreted to mean that the Soviet Union
would come in as an ally of the United States and Great Britain
against Japan.
Sam Wiseman then announced that the balance of questions sub-
mitted would be answered in the columns of the Daily Worker.
Mr. Dekom. Wasn't this the time that Earl Browder was thrown
out of the party for allegedly cooperating with the capitalists ?
Mr. Htjber. Yes, sir. The attack on Browder was built up through
the party in advance. A very special meeting was called at Unity
Center on June 12, 1945, at 2744 Broadway, in order to begin the cam-
paign against Browder and check the reaction of the membership.
All members were required to show their membership cards upon
576 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
e^itering. The chairman was Goldie Young. She announced that
the topic of discussion would be the very serious resolution of the
National Board of the Communist Party concerning Browder's
deviationism.
In opening the discussion, Goldie was very bitter toward Browder
for contniuing his opposition to the resolution, and attacked him for
his. refusal to admit his errors. She then called for lively discussion
on the resolution.
Betty Haufrecht said that Browder was a traitor to the working
class, and claimed that the revisionist ideas developed by Browder
were based upon the groundless assumption that capitalism was now
progressive. On this theory, it was said that Browder had proceeded
to develop in his book, Tehran— Our Path in War and Peace, a cap-
italist Utopia which would far outdo anything produced anywhere
by social democratic revisionists. She stated that he had developed
theories about the progressiveness and intelligence of financial capital,
and consequently the policies he formulated on the basis of these
wrong conclusions tended to subordinate the working class to the
influence of reactionary capitalists. She declared that the member-
ship of the Communist Party of America deified Browder, revering
him at rallies, and even composing songs in his honor, such as "Brow-
der IS our Leader." Further, she stated that the remarkable thing
about Browder's policies is that they cannot be properly called social
democratic, but rather liberal bourgeoisie. Concluding*, she said that
Browder had betrayed the membership of the Communist Party of
America. (Betty Haufrecht is a member of the county committee
and the County Educational School, and has appeared as guest speaker
at various clubs.)
Jeanette (Faith) Eaichell attacked Browder's policies, saying that
we should haw been informed by the national committee of Foster's
letter so that the membership could discuss the change of the party
name, with the understanding that the national committee did not
entirely agree with Browder. She recalled that for the last 2 years
Browder had never tired telling the comrades how modest a portion
of the American public the Communists were, and how little the
Communists affected the course of events. Therefore, "how foolish,"
he was to have told the capitalists, "to believe that we really can bring
a change about in this country without revolution."
She claimed that Browder was the cause for the membership having
become the laughing stock of the country, and compared Browder and
the membership of the Communist Party of America with Father
Divine and his followers in that the members blindly followed and
executed without question any policies formulated by" Browder.
Beatrice Weiss blamed the leaders of the party for permitting
Browder to make its policies. She asked, "Where and what were the
members of the national committee, the State committee, and the
county committee doing when this change took place?" She stated
that the resolution adopted by the national board, which states that,
"While a change in form or name of our Marxist organization is not
m Itself a question of principle," was not entirely correct; but that,
"It sure is a question of principle whether we have a political associa-
tion or a party. If we are Marxists, we know that a party is part of
a class and a political association is merely the joining together of
COMMUN-IST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 577
Tarioiis o-roups for political maters." She urged that as soon as the
name Communist Political Association of America is dispensed with,
and the name Communist Party re-adopted, then the party would grow
more powerful. She attacked the Daily Worker and declared that not
half of the membership are readers, the reason being that it was
clearly a propaganda paper. She accused Goldie Young, president
of Unity Center, of being a bureaucrat and demanded that a stop be
had to this type of leadership. Other members voiced their sentiments,
joining Beatrice in her condemnation. This caused a commotion
which lasted several minutes.
Other members who similarly denounced Browder and his revision-
ist policies were A. B. Magil, editor of New Masses ; Harry Raymond,
writer for the Daily Worker; and Ray Bilgore, active trade unionist.
Goldie Young stated that, due to the lateness of the hour, it was
necessary to take the names of those comrades who wished to partici-
pate in the discussion, and that these individuals would be given a
chance to speak at the next membership meeting. She announced
that meetings would be held every week until the national convention
of the Communist Party of America, which was to be held sometime in
July, and urged all comrades to buy and study the Communist Mani-
festo, on sale at the club.
Mr. Dekom. Wasn't it a fact, Mr. Huber, that all the policies which
Earl Browder was following were those dictated to him by Moscow ?
Mr. Huber. Yes.
Mr. Dekom. So that all these accusations against him were just
window dressing to effect a shift in the party line also dictated from
Moscow ?
Mr. Huber. That is right, sir.
Mr. Dekom. Would you say that this is a typical case of Soviet
gratitude ?
Mr. Huber. Yes. We all know of the slaughter of the old-time
Communists by Stalin and his gang.
Mr. Dekom. What did Earl Browder do ?
Mr. Huber. For a while he Avas completely out of party activities
and then he obtained a book concession from the Soviet Government.
He has since lost that. I have seen him recently and he appears to
be a completely broken man. He has aged considerably since I last
saw him in the party.
Mr. Dekom. Did he make any attempt to reinstate himself in the
good graces of the party ?
Mr. Huber. More than once.
Mr. Dekom. Did he ever try to form or organize a separate Com-
munist unit ?
Mr. Huber. Yes, he did. He sent out a leaflet, of which I have a
copy. In this leaflet he did not ask for sympathy but said that he was
putting his case forth as a test case which would decide the character
of the Communist Party for the future. I was told that he also be-
lieved that the membership of the Communist Party could find ways
and means of reinstating him as a member of the Yonkers branch ; that
the reasons given for his expulsion were that he had not accepted
assignments or attended meetings. He countered this accusation by
saying that if such a basis for expulsion of members were used, the
Communist Party would be compelled to expel thousands of its
members.
578 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
I believe that the names and addresses of the party members to
whom these leaflets were mailed were supplied by William Browder,
formerly circulation director of the Daily Worker, since members who
were not subscribers to the press were not sent Browder's appeal. Up
to that time this particular matter had not been discussed at member-
ship meetings, in the apparent hope that ignoring it would prevent
factions from forming.
Browder, in his appeal, stated that the decisions of the national
committee confirming his expulsion from the party left him no alter-
native to an appeal to the members and that this appeal was not a
personal matter. He stated:
If a leadership elected in a moment of hysteria and confusion, in an at-
mosphere which Foster himself described as the "atomic bomb effect," can then
proceed by expulsion on ground so shadowy and without substance as in my case,
to silence all criticism of their course even when it includes basic revision of the-
decisions of the convention which elected it, then the conclusion is inescapable —
all effective inner-party democracy has been destroyed. It is my opinion that the
membership can find the ways and means to halt this disintegrating process. Let
me make it clear that I am not appealing for support to any special political
platform, nor am I putting myself forth as candidate for any leading post in the
party. I ask only for the right to remain a rank-and-file member, to which I
have given my life's work, and for the right of every rank-and-file member to
raise his voice in criticism when convention decisions are reversed by the leader-
ship without consulting tlie party.
Browder answered each charge of the national committee as follows r
The indecent haste of the proceedings renders the entire proposal suspect,
and, therefore, not in the best interests of the party. I was called before the
national board on February 5, and there handed a copy of the decision it proposed
to adopt. When I demanded that charges in writing be given me, with an
opportunity to prepare my answer, I was told the draft decision constituted the
written charges and a copy is now in my possession — therefore, the board would
proceed to hold a trial.
Questions submitted for me to answer were: Give us the names of all party
members with whom you have spoken since the convention and the nature of your
conversations," and others of a similar nature. My request for a few days to
prepare a political answer to tlie proposed decision was refused by formal vote
on motion of Foster. I thereupon refused to answer the questions asked and
declared I considered the issue of proper procedure of great importance. It was
unreasonable and harmful to the party when the board rushed to a decision within
the hour after the first written charges were submitted and those charges were
already in the form of a final decision.
Browder stated that on February 1 he was called to the Yonkers
club, of which he was a member, to discuss his relationship with tlie
party, and that he did not receive from that club any written charges.
He had heard that on January 29, a motion calling for his expulsion
had been submitted to a Westchester County membership meeting, but
was defeated by a vote of 64 to 52, and this motion was later referred
to the Yonlcers club. He submitted to unlimited questioning, but had
never been informed as to the action of the club on these proceedings.
The board decision mentioned his statements before the Yonkers club
executive, but to his knowledge, its contents had never been made
known.
The board decision stated that Browder had continuously resisted
the program and decisions of the convention. Browder branded this
as completely false and without the slightest evidence of support,
stating :
I publicly accepted the party convention decisions and subordinated myself
to them, because I believed they were sound. The only charge that might lie
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 579-
against me was that I failed to speak up, to criticize and oppose the steps taken
by Foster and his associates, to withdraw from the Roosevelt-labor-democratic
coalition and to break up the Truman administration at a moment when it
was improving its implementation of Roosevelt's foreign policy and alining,
itself with labor.
He charged the national board with departing from the convention
decisions, without a pretense of consultation with the party, on the
theory that the board could change those decisions and suppress even
to the point of expulsion all criticism of such actions.
The board decision stated that Browder had violated his pledge to
the national convention to place himself at the disposal of the party,
and by refusing to accept any assignment from the party, he had
violated party discipline and deserted Communist duties and respon-
sibilities. Browder declared this to be completely false inasmuch
no assignment of any kind was ever offered to me and no decision as to my
party work Was ever transmitted to me. On the other hand, I was specifically
told there was no work available for me in the party. As to my non-attendance
in the Yonkers club, this was in specific agreement with the local and national
leadership, on the ground that, since my attendance in the club might become
a disturbing factor, I be excused from attendance until a decision was arrived
at. If the party followed the practice of expelling those who absented them-
selves from club meetings for 2 months, there would be an exceptional crisis in
party memberships.
The board decision stated that Browder had carried on factional,
activity and a campaign of unprincipled attacks against the leader-
ship of the party. Browder called this silly,
since there was no faction and no campaign, and for more than 7 months I have
been so completely cut off from contact with the membership, that, except for
the continued public reiteration of my name as a synonym for all deviation
from Marxism, I might have passed completely into oblivion.
The board also charged Browder with adopting an equivocal atti-
tude at tlie Un-American Activities Committee hearing. Browder
denoimced this as —
a flagrant case of bad faith and a crude frame-up after the event ; I have met
twice with the secretariat and outlined how I proposed to conduct myself at
the hearings, including the "private citizen" phrase. A member of the national
board and the board's attorney were present, and at the conclusion of the Un-
American hearings, they congratulated me on my successful handling of the-
committee. Later Foster overruled the opinions of those who were present,
so they changed their minds without even notifying me.
The board decision ascribed to Browder views which he stated he
does not hold, and actions which he claims he had not performed.
The decision proclaimed him to be outside the working class move-
ment, and that his views were enemy-class ideologj^ and not a trend
in the labor movement. Browder supported his views as being those-
of the great mass of trade unionists, plus that of all progressive Demo-
crats who are not yet Communists, and stated that Foster himself
had signed the article in Political Affairs, which was given as an
example of Browder's deviation. He said :
Foster is so fantastically factionally against me that he has not hesitated to-
declare the views of the great mass of trade unionists as enemy-class ideology
in order to blacken my name before the membership and the world.
The accusation that Browder had become an adviser to big business
by editing a mimeographed bulletin in 200 copies, called Distributors
580 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Guide, and which was circulated exckisively in circles long allies of the
Communists, Browder termed —
a typical example of hysteria. I would be happy to have these writings ex-
amiued by any intelligent group, not under factional hysterial control, to conform
my characterization of them. The assumption is made in the decision that I
am under obligation, as a disciplined rank-and-file party member, to submit every
work I put on paper to the censorship of Foster or his appointee for that purpose.
This is a newly manufactured policy for the purpose of the case against me; to
make my writings the basis of expulsion is, in effect, to copy the caricatures of the
Conmiunists as drawn by our enemies ; and when the party follows the actions
of the enemy, then, indeed, we are in grave danger.
Browder stated that the charge that he had ceased his inactivity and
had launched attempts to involve certain comrades, and to broaden his
contacts with individual members and sympathizers, doubtless re-
ferred to his appearance before the Yonkers club executive and —
the statement I made there in criticism of the departure of the party leadership
from the convention decisions. I appeared at the Yonkers club by its written
instructions and there the demand was made that I express myself fully and
frankly. In my statement to the Yonkers club I was exercising nothing more than
the rights of any rank-and-file member ; I was responding to the demands of party
responsibility. Nothing I expressed there could be made grounds for expulsion
without abolishing all inner democracy within the party.
Browder concluded his appeal by calling upon the national commit-
tee to reject the proposal for his expulsion. A coupon attached to the
appeal stated :
The mailing of these documents to the party membership was made necessary
by the closing of all normal channels to me. In order to do this, I have had to
borrow and expend money. I ask those who agree that this was necessary and
in the interest of the party and the working class, to write to me expressing their
views and to make a contribution in money to defray the expenses, using the
attached coupon if desired. Make all remittances payable to Earl Browder,
Box 145, South Station, Yonkers, N. Y.
Mr. Dekom. Mr. Huber, I have here a copy of the United Nations
Telephone Directory dated "1 February 1949." On page 91 there
appears the name of Victor A. Yakhontoff. Did you, in the course
of your Communist Party activity, have any contact with him ?
Mr. Huber. Yes. He was an instructor at the Jefferson School of
Social Science, which is the official Communist training school in New
York City.
On December 3, 1944, I attended a party of leading Communist
functionaries in this country given at the home of Seymour Copstein,
a Communist professor, honoring Alexander Trachtenberg. Trach-
tenberg is the president of International Publishers, the Communist
publishing house in New York City ; a member of the national com-
mittee of the Communist Party, and on the board of directors of the
Jefferson School of Social Science.
There were about 30 people present, and admission was by invita-
tion only. Only old and trusted friends of Trachtenberg were invited.
Entertainment was furnished by Richard Dyer-Bennett, who sang and
played folk songs of Eussia. Guests included Gen. Victor Yakhontoff,
Harry Sacher, Abe Heller, Lewis Merrill, David Goldway, Louis Wein-
stock, Frederick V. Field, Corliss Lamont, Howard Selsam, Mr. and
Mrs. Doxey Wilkerson, Mike Gold, Dr. Joseph Barsky, Sophie and Bill
Cropper, Muriel Draper, Helen Bryan, Muriel Hart, and Regina
Wilson.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 581
The master of ceremonies was Harry Sacher, attorney, who intro-
duced Gen. Victor Yakhontoff with the statement that Yakliontoff
served in the Russo-Japanese War along with Alexander Trachten-
berg. Yakhontoff gave a talk in which he stated that his friend-
ship with Trachtenberg had been a long one, and that, even though
he had been a general and Trachtenberg a corporal in the Czariet
armed forces, they had found a lot in common.
Jack Stachel made a short speech in which he addressed the groups
as ''comrades and fellow Communists."
Trachtenberg was presented with a briefcase, and in his acceptance
speech he also addressed the group as "comrades and fellow
Communists."
Following the party, I accompanied Eegina Wilson home, and she
advised me that the guests at this party were the cream of the intel-
lectual group of the Communist Party in the United States.
Mr. Dekom. You mentioned the Jefferson School of Social Science.
Have you any additional information on this organization?
Mr. HuBER, Yes; it is one of the most important educational cen-
ters of the Communist Party. In addition to the information I have
just given you on the meeting at the school, I might give you other
activities of the Jefferson School with which I am familiar :
When the Jefferson School of Social Science was conducting a cam-
paign to raise $35,000 in 1944 to enlarge the school, booklets were dis-
tributed through the Communist Party branches for the comrades to
sell. Each page in the booklet was a facsimile of a red brick, sup-
posedly representing the purchaser's contribution toward the school's
expansion. The campaign was supervised by Regina Wilson, a mem-
ber of the Eleventh Assembly District Club of the Communist Party.
On January 5, 1945, Regina Wilson prepared, on the letterhead of
the Jefferson School of Social Science, thank-you notes to a list of
people for their work in compiling a list for the first anniversary
dinner of the school. Thank-you notes were addressed to —
Vera Lhlakman, 195 Hicks Street, Brooklyn ;
Mrs. Ruth Poskoff, 811 Walton Avenue, Bronx ;
Mrs. Dorothy Berber, 139-68 Pershing Crescent, Jamaica ;
Mrs. David L. (Rhetta) Friedman, 340 East Sixty-sixth Street, New York
City;
Dr. A. Novkoff, 418 West Twentieth Street, New York City ;
Dr. Sarah R. Riedman, 1066 Park Place, Brooklyn ;
Dr. Francine Bradly, 10 Downing Street, New York City ; and
Dr. Bernard F. Riess, Institute for Research in Child Psychology, 695 Park
Avenue, New York City.
The anniversary dinner for the school was held at Hotel Roosevelt,
New York City. About 750 people were present. Tickets were $5
each. Howard Selsam, a Communist and director of the Jefferson
School, ^ave a talk in which he stated that there were nine "people's
universities" in the United States at that time. He stated that all of
these schools should be oriented toward the labor movement and more
or less integrally connected with it. Labor unions were represented
on the governing boards of all nine schools. The California Labor
School, operating centers in San Francisco and Oakland, was spon-
sored by some 150 AFL and CIO unions, most of whom contribute to
its support. Selsam reported that this school was also supported by
business leaders representing important banks and industries of that
area.
98330—50 — pt. 2 9
r>S2 ooMMi'Msr A('ri\ 1 riKs in ai.ikn and nationai, (auu'rs
Sclsiim iloi'lartHl (hnl {\\c Ji'iVorson Sc1uh)1 of Stn-iiil Srioiu-o in Now
^ Ork h;ul I.IOD shulonts, (iikiuii- [()(> (.nmrsos; Oalil'oi-nia Lubor Srln)i)l,
1,000 sliulonls in ils '2 oomUm-s niul ovor 700 nioiv in oxionsion i-lnssos;
Saniuol Atlnnis Si'hi>oI in In>s( on, 100 shulonis in its opiMiino-
tiMiu; Abi';ih:nn liiui'tUn S^hoiW in CliioMii't*. ^^--^ n\iiis( runls, with ;>."iO
nioi'o in oxtonsion ooursos; IMiihulolpiiiii School oC Sooinl Soionoo ;ind
Art, ,')8(MMirolIiHl, and was planning- I'xtonsion oinirsos in (ho indus(rial
ronlors of Canidon ami C'hoslor; Ohio School of Social Scicnoo in
CK'vohnui, i.*.'»(^ shulon(s in ll> courses; (Jooriio Washiniilon Carver
School in New York's Uarlenu ;>00 shulents in (he openinij; term of i(s
second year; People's E(luc:.( ional Associa(ion o{ \jos Aniivles, 5>;>0
s(uiien(s in i(sclown(own and Hollywood divisiinis.
lie said:
11 Is lu^t unlilvtMy th;it (hem>\i "J years will sco tlnM>st;ililishuuMil of ccinrMi able
schools In a scor(> of new rilios siirli as l>t'tr«>il, Ualliuiori', \\asliir,,u(;>n. I'llls-
I'ur.uh. Allauta. St. I.ouis, Milwaukoe. Sealdo. ami other lar.:e eilios whieh eouhl
wtil sot up (his type of sehool with the support o\ luiions auil ]>rouiessivo
I'iti/ens of the middle class.
He slated lha( a n»o\ on)en( was ihuKm- way ii\ New York and cUher
lilies, and Ihal it needed antl deserved support and encourai2;enien(.
Mr. Dkkom. "Was Keirina Wilson a nieniber of your branch of the
par(y.
Mr. Hi lU'iw Yes; sl\c was. She was oi\e of the n>o-;( active loadtM's
in the ,letVerst>n School. She suporxisod, as mentioned previously, for
(he .lelferson School of Si>cial Science, a I'antiviiiiu io raise $;>r>,OtH> to
cnlariio the school by ilistribut inii booklets (hnnioh C\Humunity Party
branches i'ov the ct>mrades (t) sell.
Mr. I>kko:m. l^id the Coimnmiists wi>rk (hrouuh anv other {loliiical
party?
Mr. HiniK. They wiuked (hr»niah (he .Vmerican liabor rar(y,
which is now wholly com rolled bv (he C\Mnnnmis( PaHy. Every
member of the I'niiy (\M\ter, which numbers some r>;>0, was also
retiuireti to becmne a member o'l the .Vmerican Lalmr Party Klevemh
.\ssemblv nis(rict CMub at lH>SS Hroadway, New York.
The cliairmnn and cliairlady (Linda lu^ss) ft>r the dislrict were
bo(h members tif (he Connolly branch of the party. .Vrcliio Maskin,
labor tiirectiM- of the Kleventh Assembly District Club, Communist
Party, -7I4 Hroadway, was permitted the use of American Lab(M*
Party headquarters at i.H>S8 Broadway, io meet with the CIO Com-
munily Council. They planned to iie( all union members of Klevenlh
.Vssombly District CMub aclive and politically conscious, in order to
help recruit new members fi\>m amoiiii' their labor unions.
Our club, as well as (he other Commuiiis( clubs in the district,
wiu'ked tirelessly for the reelection o( \\{o MarcaiUonio to Compress.
Tuesday, March 'J8. n)14, while at ALP headquarters at 'JOSS Bnvid-
way, waitinii" for results of the primary elections, T observed, from my
phu'o a( the desk where ivsults of the returns were handed in, that all
oleciiou dis(rict cap(ains — more than 1(>0 — were members of the
l''le\iMi(h .Assembly Dislrict Club. C\mimiinist Party. The work was
(abulated by Liiula Koss and (loldie Youiiii-. Kesuhs showed (he left
wino- in the lead at that time and (loldie expressed jubilation with
(he wcM'k comrades had accomplished.
I spent 'J hiuirs at .MarcaiUonio's headt|uar(ors a( MSI Firs( .Vvenue.
New York C''itv. on June ii;>, 15MI. During' this (ime about -00 cou\-
COMMUNIST ACT1V1TJI<:S IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 583
radi'-s from Coinmunist Ptirty clubs throiij>hout New York City rc-
poi-tod for assignments to districts to canvass for Marcantonio's
reelection. Elizabeth liarkcr, member of the State committee, Com-
munist Party, was in charge of IMarcantonio's headquarters at the
above address.
On April 23, 1945, the American Lahor Party, at 2088 Broadway,
inaugurated an intensive membership drive to start May 1. They
enlisk'd the aid of the conu'ades of Conununist clubs on the upper West
Side in their attempts to get new members.
At the membership meetings of all Comminiist clul)s on the upper
West Side comrades were ujged to participate in this campaign
through a door-to-door canvass. Those who could not publicly iden-
tify themselves as Communists were asked to report to American Labor
Party to give clerical assistance. This drive was in preparation for
the 11)1:5 elections, to enable the American Labor Party to have a large
working force at its disposal, to insure election of American Labor
Party candidates, especially Ben Davis, Jr. This membership drive
was under the leadeiship of Harry Abrams, chairman, and Linda
Ross, (;()chairman, in the eleventh assembly district, American Labor
Party, who were both members of the Unity Center branch of the
Coinmunist Party.
Mr. Dekoini. Were any written instructions issued to members of
your party unit concerning the American Labor Party?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, sir; there were. I have here with me one of these
instructions. It was issued in the 11)47 election, and shows how the
Connrninist Party was behind the American Labor Party in the
campaign.
Mr. l)EKt)M. With the permission of the chairman, this document
will be placed in the record at this point as exiiibit 7.
(The document was marked "Iluber Exhibit 7" and is as follows:)
Jamics Connolly Ci.uii
Communist Party^
2744 Broadway
August 6, 1946.
EMERGENCY NOTICES
1. Our answer to the Georgia lynchings is to elect a progressive Negro State
senator in this district. The Charles Collins campaign needs canvassers and
ciei-ks every day and evening from now to primary day, August 20.
Repoi-t to American Lahoi- Parly, 2744 IJroadway. Oflice liours 7 to 11 p. m.
In order lo help during the day, if you are free then, you must report for
advance instructions, once only, some evening.
2. In order to spur the election campaign^ special short Tuesday evening club
meetings will be held 1 hour later than the usual time; that is, at 0: 15 p. m.
These short meetings will concentrate on the election cami)aign. Drop in after
canvassing. Time is short. Your absence from canvassing and meetings may
cause the defeat of Charles Collins. Other mobilizations will be announced at
tlie club ni(;etings.
.'?. Our regular 7 : .'W Saturday evening street-corner meetings at One Hun-
di-''d and Tliiid Street and Columbus Avenue are a great help to the campaign.
Come to the club this Saturday and any Saturday thereafter, at 7 p. m. sliarp,
for last-miiuit(> instructions. In case you can't make it at 7, come directly to the
corner at 7 : 30. We need supporters at the meetings.
BJvery little bit helps. Build the democratic coalition.
EXECUTl VIO ( 'OM M n "IKE.
584 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Mr. Dekom. You have made references to Norman Corwin, who is
now employed by the UN. In your testimony, you reported his speech
at a Communist-front meeting. You also stated that he had appeared
at other meetings and had been associated with other Connnunist
fronts. Will you give us specific instances of that ?
Mr. HuBER. Norman Corwin made a collection speech at a party and
dinner that was held in honor of William Gropper, cartoonist for the
Daily Worker.
Mr. Dekom. Is the Dailj^ Worker the official organ of the Commu-
nist Party ?
Mr. Huber. Yes, sir.
Mr. Dekom. Were you there; is this first-hand information which
you have?
Mr. Huber. That is right, sir, and I will give you a complete repoH
on it, if you like.
Mr. Dekom. Please do so.
Mr. Huber. The birthday party and dinner in honor of William
Gropper, cartoonist for Daily Worker, was held on Monday, December
4, 1944, in the ^rand ballroom of the Commodore Hotel. About 500
or more people were present, admission was $4 per person. Festivities
started with singing of the national anthem.
Dr. Edward K. Barsky, chairman of Joint Anti-Fascist Eefugee
Committee, tiianked those present for their kind cooperation with the
committee during the past year, saying that without their help hun-
dreds of people in many foreign countries would now be dead. He
said that that dinner would be the last affair for that year, but he hoped
those present would show the same cooperation during the coming
year. The chairman for the evening was Edward Chodorov, play-
wright, whose play that year was Decision. Chodorov praised the
work of Bill Gropper, reviewing his activities during the 25 years he
had known him and related an incident which occurred 25 years ago,
when Gropper worked for the Herald Tribune : Gropper's boss had
sent him down to get material for pictures at an IWW^ meeting.
Gropper expected to meet people who had bombs sticking out of their
pockets and he was afraid ; instead, he met the chairman of the meet-
ing and was so impressed with their conversation he asked for more
information about their organization. He then requested a member-
ship card which he immediately filled out, called up the Tribune and
resigned. He had been with the progressive movement ever since.
Chodorov introduced people seated at speakers' tables, as follows:
Stanley Isaacs, Sophie Gropper, Helen Bryan, Muriel Draper, Morris
Muste, Herman Shumlin, Saul Mills, and Geraldine Fitzgerald. He
called on the following people, who lauded the efforts of Bill Gropper,
made in behalf of his fellowmen: Dorothy Parker, Mrs. Lombardo
Tolandro, Dean Dickson, Carl Sandburg, Norman Corwin, and Fred-
erick (Blackie) Myers.
Myers said he had just received word of the appointment to the State
Department of Archibald MacLeish, Nelson Rockefeller, and William
Clayton ; and that if that were true, these men would replace Howland
Shaw, Adolf Berle, Jr., and Breckinridge Long, which would be the
best news in many a day for him and for the forces fighting fascism.
* Industrial Workers of the World, an organization designated as subversive by the
Attorney General.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 585
He denounced the attitude of State Department toward Franco, and
said that in the union he represents the membership think this attitude
"stinks to high heaven."
Norman Corwin appealed for funds, relating that the monthly ex-
penses of the committee are $2,000 for Lisbon, $3,000 for north Africa,
$7,000 or $8,000 for Mexico, and $3,000 for Santo Domingo and other
Central and South American countries, in addition to $1,000 monthly
for Svritzerland. Contributions resulted in $12,506 collected, which
Moe Fishman and I counted in order that the total sum could be an-
nounced from the platform. The largest contribution was $2,000 from
the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union.
Seated at a table near mine were Harry Bridges, Saul Mills, Blackie
Myers, and their wives. Other guests included Earl Browder, Israel
Amter, Mike Gold, Joseph North, A. B. Magil, Dave Goldway, Regina
Wilson, Abe Heller, Alexander Trachtenberg, Frederick V. Field, and
Charlotte* Honig. Entertainment was furnished by Richard Dyer-
Bennett.
Mr. Dekom. Mr. Huber, I have here a program of a testimonial
dinner in honor of Ferdinand C. Smith which lists among its com-
mittee of sponsors Norman Corwin.
Can you identify Ferdinand C. Smith in whose honor the dinner
was given ?
Mr. Huber. Yes, sir ; he was a member of the Communist Party and
conducted classes for seamen in communism at the National Maritime
Union Hall on West Seventeenth Street.
Mr. Dekom. Do you know whether or not he is an alien ?
Mr. Huber. Yes, sir; he is now under deportation proceedings.
In the December 1939 issue of the magazine Tac, Norman Corwin
wrote an article entitled "Miss Hogan, Take a Poem."
He was a member of the sponsoring committee for mass demonstra-
tions for republican Spain at Madison Square Garden on January 2,
1945.
He was a speaker at a Spanish Refugee Appeal rally of the Joint
Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee at Madison Square Garden on Sep-
tember 24, 1945.
He appeared as an actor in a sketch, taking the part of Hank, at
Madison Square Garden on May 29, 1946, at a rally sponsored by the
National Council of American-Soviet Friendship.
On June 19, 1946, he made a trip to the Soviet Union as a writer
and director. The article telling about this appears in the Daily
Worker under the same date line.
He was a speaker at a dinner of the Committee for a Democratic
Far Eastern Policy.
Mr. Dekom. Is that a Communist-front organization?
ISIr. Huber. Yes. I was there when that front was organized. It
was organized by Freddy Field.
Mr. Dekom. Is that Frederick Field?
Mr. Huber. That is Frederick Vanderbilt Field.
Norman Corwin was a speaker at a dinner, a get-together-with-
Russia rally at Madison Square Garden which was sponsored by the
National Council of American-Soviet Friendship. That dinner was
held on December 3, 1946.
He is vice chairman of the Progressive Citizens of America, which
resulted from a merger with the Arts, Sciences, and Professions with
586 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIwN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
the National Citizens Political Action Committee on February 24,
1947.
Norman Corwin also was a speaker at a crisis meeting on Greece and
Turkey that was sponsored by the Progressive Citizens of America
at Madison Square Garden on March 31, 1947.
He wrote a skit for a rally sponsored by the Voice of Freedom at
Town Hall on May 8, 1947, calling for action in reinstating left-wing
news commentators who were following the Communist Party line on
various radio networks.
Mr. Dekom. Do you know to which commentators they were re-
ferring?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, sir. Robert St. John, Frank Kingdon, William
Gailmor, and Johannes Steel.
Corwin signed a resolution drawn up by the committee for the
first amendment, protesting against the House Un-American Activi-
ties Committee's investigating the film industry.
Mr. Dekom. Was that organization formed to support the so-called
Hollywood 10 — the 10 writers, directors, and actors — who were
identified as Communists or Communist sympathizers before the
Committee on Un-American Activities ?
Mr. HuBER. That is right.
Mr. Dekom. And who are now under conviction for contempt of
Congress ?
Mr. Huber. That is right.
Corwin was a sponsor of the Action Committee to Free Sjiain, which
was under the auspices of the Veterans of Abraham Lincoln Brigade,
and the American Committee for Spanish Freedom, March 15, 1940.
Once, this Action Committee to Free Spain did not have enough
workers to go around with collection cans and to pass out leaflets, so
they called on members of the Communist Party branches.
Mr. Dekom. Have you any personal knowledge of the activities
of the Action Committee to Free Spain?
Mr. Huber. Yes. The Action Committee to Free Spain sent rep-
resentatives throuirhout the Communist Party branches in the five
boroughs of New York to call on the Communist Party members for
their support in soliciting funds on the street, in passing out leaflets,
in demonstrations, rallies, and other activities in working toward
making that organization a success.
Norman Corwin was a sponsor of the American Committee for
Spanish Freedom along with Johannes Steel and Mrs. William L.
Shirer.
He was an entertainer for the American Friends of the Chinese
people, with such well knowii pro-Communists as Ray Lev, Earl
Robinson, Lionel Stander, and Joshua White.
Norman Corwin was a sponsor for a dinner given at the grand
ballroom of the Hotel Pennsylvania by the American-Russian In-
stitute. Among the sponsors were Vilhjalmur Stefansson and Corliss
Lamont; also John Howard Lawson, who has been cited for contempt
by the Un-American Activities Committee.
Mr. Dekom. Wasn't Victor Yakhontoff a sponsor of that front?
Mr. Huber. Yes, sir ; he was.
Norman Corwin wrote an article for a magazine called Slavic-
American.
COMMUlSriST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 587
Mr. Dekom. Is that the official organ of the American Slav
Congress ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, sir. That organization is a Communist front.
Norman Corwin is a sponsor of the Committee for a Democratic Far
Eastern Policy.
Norman Corwin was also a member of the initiating committee for
the Coiigress on Civil Eights.
Mr. Dekom. What is the principal function of that organization?
Mr. HuiiER. To defend Communists.
Mr, Dekom. Is that the successor of the International Labor
Defense ?
Mr. HuBER. That is right.
Mr. Dekom. What was the International Labor Defense?
Mr. IItjt.er. It was set up to defend Communists who have broken
or violated our laws.
Norman Corwin appeared at a rally to spotlight demands for a
"free Africa," sponsored by the Council on African Affairs.
Mr. Dekom. Who were some of the other speakers there, or persons
who appeared ?
Mr. HuBER. Paul Robeson, Betty Garrett, Pearl Primus, Howard
De Silva, and Canada Lee.
Mr. Dekom. Was Benjamin J. Davis, Jr., present at that meeting?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, sir; he spoke at that meeting. He is on the Na-
tional Committee of the Communist Party.
Mr. Dekom. Mr. Huber, I notice that your list of Communist-front
connections of Norman Corwin is rather extensive. We will ask
you, if it is all right with the chairman, to submit that list for the
information of the subcommittee in written form.^
Mr. Huber, Yes, sir.
Mr. Dekom. According to evidence which has been presented to this
subcommittee and information which has appeared in the press,
Millard Lampell has also been employed by UN alon^ with Norman
Corwin to write scripts for the current broadcast series. Have you
any information on this person ?
Mr. Huber, Yes, I have. He has been very active in the Com-
munist movement. There is one particular instance concerning him
which I might mention: On March 3, 1949, the Voice of Freedom
Committee, which is a Communist-front organization, gave a testi-
monial dinner as "a tribute to William S. Gailmor," at the Park
Sheraton Hotel.
Mr, Dekom. Was not Gailmor, whom you identified earlier in your
testimony as a member of the Communist Party, a campaigner for
Hein^y Wallace ?
Mr. Huber. That is right. As a matter of fact, Henry Wallace
was one of the speakers at this meeting. The chairman was Millard
Lampell, I have here a mimeographed song which was distributed
at the dinner and which all the guests sang to Gailmor. This song
was written by Millard Lampell and two others.
Mr. Dekom. With the permission of the chairman we will receive
the program and the copy of the song in evidence for presentation
in the record as exhibit 8.
^ The list of Communist-front connections of Norman Corwin appears In appendix V,
p. A77.
588 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
(The documents referred to were marked "Huber Exhibit 8" and
are as follows:)
We Got Gailmob
( This is a gang song )
(By Millard Lampell, E. Y. Harburg, Judy Rosen)
We got Gailmor
Winning Willy Gailmor
We got Gailmor
And he means our life
When he does his song and dance
Brother hold your shirt and pants
He can make you wanna hock your kids and wife.
The Republicans they hate him
The Du Fonts and McCormacks they Red BAIT him
But the people who are people celebrate him
So let's keep Gailmor on the air !
So while they roast Bill Gailmor
We will toast Bill Gailmor
We will sing about his courage everythere *
Happy is the day
When the people have their say
So let's keep Gailmor on the air.
We got Gailmor
Fighting Willy Gailmor
We got Gailmor
The man the people like
He can scare the Standard Oil
Make the J. P. Morgans boil
And he does it all with just a little mike !
Oh the Peglers they abuse him
The bankers and the networks all refuse him
But the people who are people dare not lose him
So let's keep Gailmor on the air.
Let him shout for freedom,
Let him spout for freedom
There's a magic in his voice that reaches way out there.
Happy is the day
When the people have their say
So let's keep Gailmor on the air.
Written especially for Gailmor testimonial dinner given by the Voice of
Freedom Committee at the Hotel Park Sheraton, March 3, 1949.
Mr. Dekom. I will ask you again for purposes of the record: Is
William S. Gailmor — the man to whom Millard Lampell paid these
tributes — to your knowledge, a member of the Communist Party ?
Mr. Huber. Yes ; he is.
Mr. Dekom. Is Millard Lampell a member of the Communist Party ?
Mr. Huber. I do not know. I only know that he has been con-
nected with numerous Communist fronts.
Mr. Dekom. I note that there are two other authors to the song.
Can you give us any information concerning these people?
Mr. Huber. I can about E. Y. Harburg, the composer of many
musical shows. I know him to have been a member of the Communist
Party front organizations for many years. I do not know anything
about Judy Rosen.
1 Ever there (?)
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 589
Mr. Dekom. Have you further information on Lampell ?
Mr. HuBER. Yes ; I have. On Thursday, January 24, 1946, he was
chairman of a so-called anti-discrimination rally, sponsored by the
Committee of Veterans Against Discrimination, which was a Com-
munist-front organization. Approximately 1,500 people were present,
a few hundred being turned away because of the lack of accommoda-
tions. This meeting, which was trumpeted as an "anti-discrimination"
meeting actually turned out to be directed, to a large extent, against
Catholics.
The rally was originally scheduled to be in the form of a mock
trial, to try John O'Donnell and James Patterson of the Daily News
as war criminals. Because of circumstances not made public by the
veterans committee, this trial developed into just another rally de-
nouncing the Daily News, its publisher, James Patterson, and its lead-
ing columnist, John O'Donnell. The trial was to have been presided
over by Judge Rivers, with Fiorello H. LaGuardia as prosecutor,
and 12 Purple Heart veterans as the jury; none of these individuals
appeared at the rally.
The following speakers addressed the rally, confining their re-
marks to similar denunciations of the Daily News, Patterson, and
O'Donnell : Jose Ferrer, actor ; Thelma Dale, executive member of the
National Negro Congress; Representative John M. Coffee; Rev. Ben
Richardson, associate editor of The Protestant; Sgt. Ben Kurocki;
Rabbi Louis D. Gross, editor of the Jewish Examiner; Rev. L. M.
Birkhead, national director of Friends of Democracy ; Assemblyman
Leo Isaacson ; and Henry Morgan of the radio program "Here's Mor-
Representative Coffee also said that it was time that the people of
America should make sure that they cleanse the halls of Congress of
such Congressmen who have reactionary tendencies. Thelma Dale
stated that if the United States would stop supporting the Peron
government in Argentina the people would overthrow that govern-
ment and elect a government which would be truly democratic.
Reverend Richardson brought the audience to its feet by declaring
that it is easily foreseen by the present strike situation that monopo-
list capital is in its death struggle and socialism for the people of the
United States is following close behind.
Henry Morgan made a collection speech, and, after calling for
larger contributions, said that he would also "accept Catholic money."
The contributions amounted to about $2,300.
Henry Morgan's reference to "Catholic money" was made with very
derogatory connotations, and I think this shows clearly his attitude
and the attitude of the people at this meeting.
Entertainment was furnished by the CIO Chorus and Josh Wliite.
Mr. Dekom. Is this type of attack on religious groups or religion
customary in Communist circles ?
Mr. HuBER. It most certainly is. The Communist party is pledged
to destroy all religion, just as it has destroyed it in the Soviet Union.
To destroy religion is just part of their program — what Lenin has
called the opiate of the people. They are particularly vicious against
the Catholics and the Catholic Church because the Catholic Church
is one of the most important barriers to the Communists and their
best organized enemy. This is something you see at very many meet-
ings, and, if you like, I can give you one more example.
590 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Mr. Dekom, Go ahead.
]SIr. HuBER. On Sunday, July 23, 1944, the Fifth Annual Fiesta
Republicana was held under the auspices of the Joint Anti-Fascist
Refugee Committee, at Harmony Park, Staten Island. About 1,500
people attended. Customary games of chance were well patronized
by the guests. During the entertainment, when performers had fin-
ished their dancing numbers and the spectators were applauding,
shouts from groups (which I believe were prearranged) of "Down
with the Pope!" "The Pope and Hitler are one man!" "When is the
Pope going to work?" "I would like to see the Pope signing an appli-
cation for home relief !" were heard. Looking around to get the reac-
tion of the people to these shouts, I found that most of the people, by
their expressions of laughter, were in sympathy with the shouters,
who seemed to be well-organized groups scattered in separate parts
of the park.
Mr. Dekom. Mr. Huber, are the Communist fronts used as a medium
of identifying potential party members, as a means of preparatory
indoctrination ?
Mr. Huber. Yes, of course ; that is one of the more important jobs
for the front organizations, to work on prospects for the party.
Mr. Dekom. You have also mentioned the name of Corliss Lamont
in your testimony. What do you know of his connection with the
Communist Party?
Mr. Huber. On June IG, 1944, while I was in conversation with Paul
Crosbie and Charlotte Honig, the name of Corliss Lamont was men-
tioned. Crosbie stated that Lamont has been a member of the Com-
munist Party for several years. Charlotte Honig related that the rea-
son for his being disinherited by his father Thomas was because Corliss
became a member of the Communist Party ; that he willingly gave up
everything and was living on proceeds of a small trust fund left to him
by his grandmother. I have attended several parties given in honor
of Corliss Lamont where all the guests were Communist Party mem-
bers. His closest associates in the organization he heads are members
of the Communist Party. When the Upper West Side Council on
American-Soviet Friendship was established, he named Regina Wilson
as its chairman, an enrolled member of Unity Center, Communist
Party, 2744 Broadway.
Mr. Dekom. On the basis of your experience, what occupation or
profession would you say has been most successfully infiltrated by the
Communists ?
Mr. Huber. I would say the entertainment industry — show business.
I believe that the Communist Party made a special effort in this field
because of the tremendous propaganda value that they can get from
this source. First of all, because they can introduce their propaganda
where it will be received by the masses in the easiest-to-take form and
without any suspicion. I have seen that done in many instances.
Secondly, show business is important because the people in it are
well known and liked and listened to by the people, so that if their
names are used by the Communists and Communist fronts they make
a great impression on the masses. For example, if the average person
would see the name of John Garfield, Betty Garrett, Larry Parks,
Hester Sondergaard, Frederic March, Edward G. Robinson, Charlie
Chaplin, and others, he would be very much impressed and would
likely be persuaded by the organizations which they represent.
COMMUN"IST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 591
Mr. Dekom. Can you name specifically people in show business who
you know to be members of the Communist Party ?
Mr. HuBER, I will give you several.
Zero Mostel, who got his start as an entertainer at social functions
of the Communist Party. I remember when his remuneration was as
low as $2 a night and never more than $10 a night. He was paid ac-
cording to the success of the affair and his pay would increase with a
good take in admissions.
While I have never seen Paul Draper at a Communist Party
meeting, I do know that he has been connected with the Communist
fronts for many years. At a social function held on November 10,
1944, at the home of Mrs. Lionel S. Perera, Jr., which was given by the
water front section of the Communist Party and to which I was
invited, he appeared as one of the guest j)erformers. Everybody
who was invited to this function was a Communist. He has been a
featured attraction at Communist front meetings throughout much
of my connection with the Communist Party.
Tamara — I remember a very significant event in comiection with her.
On February 19, 1943, there was a party held in honor of the cast of
the play Counter Attack attended by such leading Communists as
Earl Browder, Max Yergan, Matt Hall, Helen Bryan, Paul Crosbie,
Muriel Draper (mother of Paul), and others. The master of cere-
monies was Tamara. After introducing all the members of the cast
and the entertainers at the party, she was asked to dance, but she de-
clined because there was no music to which she could dance. She added,
however, that when the i-evolution comes she would have music writers
compose special music to be used on such occasions. She left the plat-
form with the clenched fist salute, shouting, "Long live the revolu-
tion !"
Pearl Prim^us, the Negro dancer, who does interpretative dancing.
As I already told you before, she was brought up by Camp Wo-Chi-Ca,
the Communist camp for children.
Harry Green, who was a violinist in the orchestra of Arturo Toscan-
ini. I met him in the home of Dr. I. Engel Kaufman at a closed party
meeting.
Mr. Dekom. What is the principal role of show people in party
work?
Mr. HuBER. The most active part played by people in show business
was in promoting the Communist-front movement, which as I ex-
plained, is their most useful contribution to the Communist Party.
The list of names of show people who have been connected with fronts
or who have contributed their services to the Communist front is very
impressive. I can name Paul Draper, Larry Adler, Myrna Loy,
Hester Sondergaard, Sono Osato, Canada Lee, Kenneth Spencer,
Richard Dyer-Bennett, Burl Ives (he is another who used to entertain
for two or three dollars an evening at party social affairs) , Josh A^^iite,
Lena Home, Hazel Scott, Jose Ferrer, Uta Hagen, Pete Seeger,
Orson Welles, Lillian Hellman, Bela Lugosi, Herman Shumlin,
Margo, and others.
There have been very, very many occasions in which show people —
sometimes even an entire cast of a shoAv — have entertained free at Com-
munist affairs. I have already given you the case of the cast of Counter
Attack and, if you like, I will give you some other illustrations.
592 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Mr. Dekom. Yes ; do, please.
Mr. HuBER. On Sunday, December 26, 1943, there was a theater
party sponsored by the Joint Anti-Fascist Eefugee Committee at the
Imperial Theater. The master of ceremonies was Melville Cooper.
Performers volunteering their services were Hazel Scott, Celeste
Holm, Georgia Sothern, Zero Mostel, Mary Small, Howard Da Silva,
John Sebastian, and Pearl Primus. The music was furnished by
Teddy Wilson's orchestra. Most of the performers came from Cafe
Society Uptown. Telegrams came to the theater from Milton Berle
and Jimmy Savo, regretting their inability to appear because of colds.
On May 14, 1944, there was a concert, sponsored at Carnegie Hall by
the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, with entertainment fur-
nished by Jinnny Savo, Paul Draper, Rosario and xintonio, arid Duke
Ellington. They volunteered their services. The speaker who ap-
pealed for funds was William S. Gailmor, a Communist Party member.
On June 26, 1944, at a meeting in Madison Square Garden spon-
sored by the Negro Labor Victory Committee, a Communist front,
there was a "Broadway Salute" performance, including members
of the following casts of shows then playing on Broadway : Paul
Robeson, Uta Hagen, Jose Ferrer, from Othello; Philip Loeb, from
Over 21; David Leonard, from Mexican Hayride; P. Jay Sidney and
Muriel Smith, from Carmen Jones; Paula Lawrence, from One Touch
of Venus; Irina Baronova, from Follow the Girls; J. Edward Brom-
berg, from Jacobowsky and the Colonel ; Mercedes Gilbert, from The
Searching Wind ; and members from Pick-Up Girl and Wall-Flower.
All paid tribute to the colored race, pledging their support in the
fight for equality of all races.
On July 1, 1944, at a fiesta held at the home of William Gropper,
cartoonist for the Daily Worker, at Croton-on-the-Hudson, enter-
tainment was furnished by musicians from the bands of Benny Good-
man and Count Basie, and Pearl Primus.
On September 21, 1944, there was a meeting by the Independent
Voters Committee of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions for Roose-
velt, which was a subsidiary of the Independent Citizens Committee
of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions, a well-known Communist
front. Chairman of the rally was Fredric March, who represented
himself as the representative of the actors of Hollywood. This meet-
ing was attended by such well-known Communist fronters as Jo
Davidson, Channing H. Tobias, Dr. Harlow Shapley, of Harvard,
Orson Welles, and others.
On September 28, 1944, at Madison Square Garden, Laura Duncan
sang at a meeting sponsored by the Communist Party to celebrate
the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Communist Party in the United
States, with Earl Browder as the principal speaker.
On December 3, 1944, a birthday party was given in honor of Alex-
ander Trachtenberg, of the National Committee of the Communist
Party, at the home of Seymour Copstein, 285 Central Park West, New
York City. Entertainment was furnished by Richard Dyer-Bennett.
As I have already mentioned. Gen. Victor A. Yakontoff, who now
works for the United Nations, was introduced at that party by Harry
Sacher, one of the attorneys for the 11 convicted Communists. Sey-
mour Copstein was, at that time, a teacher of biology at the City Col-
lege of New York and is now at the Jefferson School, of which his
uncle, A. A. Heller, is treasurer.
COMMUlSriST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 593
On Tuesday, May 1, 1945, all clubs and branches in New York City
received a directive from the State committee of the party announcing
that a celebration would be held in honor of Ben Davis, Communist
Party councilman in the New York City Council and one of the 11
defendants in the recent trial. The celebration was to be held on
Sundav, May 6, at the Golden Gate Ballroom. The directive stated
that—"'
We are paying triimte to a leader that we, as Communists, can well be proud
of for his fine qualities of Communist leadership. * * * We expect our
New York membership to turn out en masse, not only because of Its major
political implication, but also because of the following impressive array of
talent: Lena Home, Josh White, Kenneth Spencer, Mary Lou Williams, Art
Tatum, Ray Lev, Max Poliakoff, Will Geer, and dozens of other outstanding
artists who are contributing their talent. It will be one of the cultural events
of the year.
In the spring of 1946 the James Connolly branch of the Communist
Party ran a theater party featuring Canada Lee.
Another instance which I might mention is a meeting of the Amer-
ican Slav Congress in September 1946 at Manhattan Center at which
the entire cast of Call Me Mister entertained.
The Communist Party also controlled two entertainment places
wdiich were owned by Leon and Barney Josephson, both leading Com-
munist Party members. They w^ere Cafe Society Uptown and Cafe
Society Dow^ntown. I understand that Cafe Society Uptown has
been recently sold.
Also, the Communist Party controls the Stanley Theater in New
York, which makes available special rates to party members and party
groups for movies produced principally by the Soviet Union.
Mr. Dekom. Have you ever heard or had any contact with Gerhart
Eisler?
Mr. HuBER. Yes ; I have.
Mr. Dekom. Will you tell us about it?
Mr. Huber. I attended a meeting, which was in the German lan-
guage, sponsored by German- American, Inc., (with headquarters at
305 Broadway, room 207, in New York City) publishers of the Ger-
man-American, a Communist paper. The meeting was held at the
Fraternal Clubhouse, 110 West Forty-sixth Street, with Gerhart Eis-
ler as the principal speaker. About 1,000 people were present. The
hall was filled to capacity with standees in the rear. The admission
charge was 72 cents with tax included. The meeting was held on
December 12, 1946. If you like I can give you a complete report on
that meeting.
Mr. Dekom. Please do so.
Mr. HiTBER. The meeting was opened by Gus Faber, who stated that
that meeting had been called by the German-American, which had
been in existence for about 5 years. He said :
The German-American has done everything possible during the war ana
after the war, to bring unity between the German-Americans in this country.
It has done an outstanding job to reeducate the German soldiers — that were taken
prisoners in this country. It has done everything possible to be a real anti-Nazi,
anti-Fascist newspaper. After the war, it has done everything to tell the people
in the United States, especially the German population, and rally them behind
the peace efforts. We have been very successful and we are going to continue
doing that. This newspaper is the sponsor of this meeting and we hope that
Mr. Eisler will have the chance, that he did not get in Washington, to speak and
tell the other side of his story, because in America we believe there are always
594 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
two sides to a story. I have the pleasure of introducing the chairman of this
meeting, Abe Isserman, counsel of the Civil Rights Congress, vpho has been in the
forefront of the fight for civil rights for 20 years. He will do everything
possible to help carry this fight to a successful conclusion.
Abe Isserman stated :
Only a short time ago I met Mr. Eisler and got from him the true story
of the tangle which he had with the Wood-Rankin committee. If it were not
for that committee, Mr. Eisler would now be landing in Germany. Mr. Eisler
was a refugee who came to this country on his way to Mexico, fleeing from the
Nazi oppressors ; because of the war situation, he was obliged to remain in this
country. At the first opportunity he had, he sought to leave to go back to
Germany and the State Department, after considering the matter carefully with
the FBI — and they conducted all the investigations they wanted — gave him an
exit permit to leave the country. But the Wood-Rankin committee stopped that.
A few things are very certain in this matter ; that Mr. Eisler has, at all times
and at the risk of his life, been anti-Fascist. He is a Communist and has never
denied it.
He was one of the anti-Fascists who are Communists who made easy our victory
in Europe. Sometime in October, when Mr. Eisler was to leave for Germany,
the Wood-Rankin committee said. No, they didn't want him to go ; they wanted
him to testify and tell them about himself; they gave as the reason, that Mr.
Budenz had called Mr. Iilisler a boss of the Communists — a foreign agent in
this country — and that he was a character who should be investigated. This
committee felt that a person they charged with being un-American, although
he is not American at all, should remain in this country. Why? Before the
evening is over, we v.'ill know why. The functions, purpose, and activities of
the Wood-Rankin committee, by high lights, is, to use the words of the great
scientists, as stated by Professor Shapley : ' "I stand on my rights as an Ameri-
can citizen and will not submit to the Gestapo and chamber-of-torture methods
jsed by the Wood-Rankin committee. This is a Nazi method, and it should be
eliminated so that private citizens can be free under our Constitution." One of
the most fundamental rights of an alien is the right to go back to his country
and fight for his principles there. The roots of Nazi fascism penetrated into
the old Dies committee and still permeate the Wood-Rankin committee. We
have now a pro-Fascist committee and an anti-Fascist fighter.
Isserman quoted from the ofRcial record of the Un-American Ac-
tivities Committee regarding the investigation of Gerald L. K. Smith,
commenting :
If that is the way they treat men like him, why didn't they treat Mr. Eisler,
Professor Shapley and the many others who appeared before them in that same
courteous way? It only proves that the committee is pro-Fascist. I charge that
the only reason Mr. Eisler was detained was because somebody in the Wood-
Rankin committee believes that, as an anti-Fascist, he was less dangerous to
the interests of America than he would be in Germany, where some Americans
are trying to establish a stronghold. Russell Nixon ^ says the British and
Americans are refusing to use the anti-Fascist, anti-Nazi refugees in the de-
Nazification of Germany. Part of the technique used by the Committee was
their subpena of him, but they didn't want him to testify or hear his story;
it is only part of the smear campaign directed against anti-Fascists.
Isserman read excerpts from Hearst newspapers regarding Red spy
scares involving the atom bomb, et cetera, and pointed out how such
stories were never substantiated by facts. He said then :
The Civil Rights Congress will give support to Eisler on the basis that he is
a human being, entitled to leave this country and go back to his own country,
if there is no valid reason for his staying here. His lawyer is the foremost
expert on immigration, Carol King, representative of Communists, trade-un-
ionists, and progressives.
1 Harlow Shapley, of Harvard. . , , . .
2 Russ Ni.\on, of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (which
was expelled from the CIO in 1949) and a former employee of the United States Military
government in Germany.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 595
Carol King stated:
This is the first time in my practice that I have ever tried to get anyone
out of the country. I'm usually trying to keep them in this country. I can't
understand why they won't let a man go back where he came from. Many
times, when I've handled cases for Communists and other progressives, I've
been told to go back where I came from. But I happen to have been born in
Manhattan. They seem to do all right when it comes to deporting citizens of
the United States. The only solution I can see for Gerhart Eisler is to have
him made a citizen of the United States and then the Immigration Service would
arrange to have him deported at Government expense.
She then gave a sarcastic description of the FBI trailing Eisler
to her office, where they carefully copied the names of the two CPA's
and an Assistant Attorney General which were on her door. She
added that Eisler was also followed and escorted by FBI men when
she invited him to her home for dinner. The FBI men, not having
been themselves invited for dinner, waited outside and later escorted
Eisler home. King wrote a letter to the FBI requesting that, as a
private citizen, she be accorded her constitutional rights of privacy,
but, despite a follow-up letter to them, she never received a reply or
acknowledgment. A few days later, Eisler informed King that the
FBI had outwardly stopped trailing him and she sarcastically boasted
that she guessed she was the first one who had made the FBI go under-
ground. She concluded by promising to do her utmost to secure
Eisler's return to Germany, where he could contribute his share in
shaping a democratic Germany.
Jack Bjoze, executive secretary of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
and veteran of World War II, recounted the fight of the International
Brigade and told him the members of the brigade had been subjected
to the same indignities as had Eisler — by being subpenaed by the Dies
and Wood-Rankin committees. He stated that the FBI had finally
given up persecuting the brigade members after many futile raids and
hours of questioning. He pledged the support of the Abraham Lin-
coln Brigade to the honorable repatriation of Eisler, and announced
that a Spanish Republican rally would be held at Madison Square
Garden on December 16 and appealed for an overflow crowd.
Gus Faber, editor of the German-Amierican, and secretary-treasurer
of the Transport Workers Unions (CIO), stated:
Eisler constantly and actively contributed to the German-American. He was
never paid for this work. I have only high praise for Eisler as an anti-Fascist ;
there is need for him in Germany.
Faber denounced the State Department for preventing Eisler's re-
turn to Germany, and stated that his organization, the German-Amer-
ican, would begin a drive to flood the State Department with letters,
telegrams, and cards demanding that Eisler be permitted to leave the
country.
Tonight we are forming a committee to do everything necessary to obtain per-
mission for Eisler to leave. The German-American pledges full support to this
end. We must unite and show the new Congress that we are fighting for the
privileges of everybody in this country to speak his mind. The time will come
that fascism will prevail and the fight against the liberal forces will begin, so we
must do everything we can to delay its arrival.
The chairman then read messages from Charles A. Collins, Russell
Nixon, Howard Fast, Councilman Peter Cacchione, and Rockwell
Kent, who declared their intentions of becoming members of the Eisler
defense committee.
596 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Dorothy Langston, secretary of Justice for Freeport Committee,
declared that the fight for Eisler was based on the same phxtf orm as
the fight for Negroes, Germans, and all Americans who are entitled
to the right to speak their own minds. She denounced the Wood-
Kankin committee and made the collection speech, appealing for funds
to continue Eisler's fight and to cover traveling expenses for a speaking
tour. Contributions included $200 from Mrs. Ida Guggenheimer, $50
from Max Bedacht (IWO), $35 from Charlotte Honig, and $50 from
the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Approximately $1,000
was collected.
The principal sjDeaker, Gerhart Eisler, stated :
I have nothing but contempt for certain happenings in the last few weeks.
During my wanderings as a German anti-Fascist refugee, I found out that the
attitude toward anti-Fascist refugees is a barometer for the political climate of
the country. Whenever reactionary and Fascist-minded groups are lighting for
power and for the political atomization of the working class, the anti-Fascist
exiles go through a lot of trouble. I want to inform the Rankin committee that I
never denied being a Communist. Do they know that two great Germans were
also Communists? But Marx and Engels are dead; no use investigating them.
At this time, I should be home in Germany and applying for membership in the
German Socialist Party. ^ No American would have been harmed by my departure,
but every German would have been helped toward a peaceful anti-Fascist demo-
cratic Germany.
Every anti-Fascist is needed in Germany against those who spread hate against
Jews, Communists, English, French, Americans, Yugoslavs, and, lastly but not
least, against the people of the Soviet Union. Budenz,^ who has apparently found
only one hero in the Bible, namely, .Judas Iscariot, would then have to find other
victims for his lies. In all modesty, I say you could do without me here. There
are plenty of other people in the United States who could stand investigation. I
don't like to play the role of the hare to the reactionary hounds. I never become
intimidated by reaction ; I always hit back and as united as possible ; that goes
for nations, classes, and for every individual, for trade unions, progressive organ-
izations and progi'essive parties, for racial and religious minorities. I remind
you here tliat the Nazi dictatorship Vv^as the most developed group against uu-
German democratic people. In America, the attitude is : ''For every person an
investigator in the garage and a subpena in the pot." Let the Catholics watch the
persecution of other political minorities — they might be called the agents of the
Vatican state themselves some day. I offer to the sponsors of Budenz, "don't get
laughing too soon on the joke you played on the German Communists." It was
people like Budenz who used to call the German Catholics Fascists. As long as
my forced stay in this country lasts, as long as I can use my pen, and as long as
I am not kept from speaking, I shall hit back, using every opportunity to do so and
shall be grateful for every opportunity given me. I think the liberal and pro-
gressive forces who give me more opportunity for the fight against reaction are
indivisible.
If I shall land in a prison of postwar democracy, I shall forget nothing and
shall continue somewhat later. You know the policy of frame-ups had a long
history in your country and has developed to an art. It belongs to the American
way of life, as sometimes sickness belongs to your way of life. I remind you of
Sacco-Vanzetti and Scottsboro. I figiit for the freedom of a political exile to
return home. After all, the United States is not a displaced-persons camp. I
fight against the slanders that I have used the trust given me by this country
to act as a foreign agent. I want here to mention that I fight for my brother,
Hanns Eisler, against whom a vicious campaign has been started. I shall not
allow, without protest, that the memory of the late Dr. Kurt Rosenfeld,^ who
became a citizen of your country, be smeared by reptiles in the Hearst press.
I never have been an agent in my life, and as long as I live I have other worries
^The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (Sozialistische-Einheitspartei Deutschlands) is
the Communist-flominated coalition party of the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany.
2 Louis Budenz identified Gerhart Eisler as the Soviet representative in the United
States controlling the Communist Party, before the House Committee on Un-American
Activities.
» Dr. Kurt Rosenfeld, former Minister of Justice of Bavaria, who was very active in
Communist-front organizations while in this country.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 597
than to trouble about overthrowing the American Government. I was never in
the service of any government except my 3 years in the German Army. I never
received a penny from any government — oh, yes, I did get $27 from the Wood-
Rankin committee to pay my expenses to Washington. I never was an agent of
the former and now dissolved Comnumist International. This agent stuff of the
dissolved Communist International lias been taken over by ignoramuses. In my
lifetime, I have been in a great many countries, but wherever I went all my
activities were of an alien connected with the fight against German reaction and
fascism on the international network and with the idea of helping the German
people. I went only to ask for help and advice in our war asainst the Nazis,
which started long before 1939. So I did not come to this country to boss any-
one: I came here on my way to Mexico and was forced to stay here oy tiie
American authorities against my will, intentions, and plans. In this country,
I considered it my duty to do everything I could in the fight against German
fascism and Japanese imperialism. If I mention such activities, it is not
because I want to boast, but I am forced to account for my activities. I am
thinking about the future of peace and not about new wars against anyone or
anybody.
I gave material to Joseph Starobin of the Daily Worker for his paper, and he
wrote articles using the pen name of Hans Berger. He was honest enough not to
write under his own name, not wanting credit that he felt did not belong to him.
There are a few journalists who could take advantage of such honesty. I also
wrote, with two other friends. The Lesson of Germany, which deals with
German reaction and nazism. I hope a similar book. The Lesson of the United
States, need never be written. During my stay in this country I learned to like
the American people very much. I have only high praise for the late Franklin
D. Roosevelt. But it isn't easy to please everybody — everything a German does
is "un." I wrote about the philosophy which motivates Mr. Rankin, for which
I have nothing but contempt. If my writings would have been pro-Nazi, I should
have been treated like a decent man by reactionaries and Rankin, and nobody
would have accused me of un-American activities. If I liked Franco, Mon-
signor Sheen ^ would have liked me as much as Budenz. If I should be an agent
for a war against the Soviets, I guess I would be back in Germany and would
not have any troubles. Well, I want to tell Mr. Walter Winchell, I just want to
say that all the oceans in the world cannot wash away the sins of my being a
Communist.
Eisler interjected with a story that an American Communist sup-
posedly came to him for advice, and he told this person that he didn't
know what to say but that he would ask Moscow. This story was
supposed to show the ridiculousness of the charge that he gets orders
from Moscow :
The FBI made a big mistake during the war ; they should have watched the
House in Queens," and not the House on Ninety-second Street. So much has been
invented about my relations with American Communists that I must clarify this.
I respect the American Communists because of their fight against reaction and
for peace. I am grateful to the American Communists because whenever the
German Communists ask them for material and moral help, they have helped us.
I only wish the governments of the western powers would have been far-sighted
enough to follow the American Communists' example of helping the forces that
fought Hitler. Then we might have averted this war. I saw American Com-
munists fight side by side with Germans in"~the ranks of the International Brigade
against Mussolini and Franco. They are courageous in their fight for a good
cause. There were no men like Rankin.
Eisler compared the grouping together of Catholics throughout the
world with similar gathering together of Communists throughout the
world, stating :
Naturally 1 sought out Communists here, for they are my kind of people.
The merger of British and American reaction in Germany brings only more
reactions. What happens today in Germany is the encouragement by the western
^ Rt. Rpv. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, profe.ssor of philosophy, Catholic University of
America, Washington.
' Gerhart Eisler lived in Queens during his United States residence.
98330— 50— pt. 2 10
598 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
powers of all those forces, prejudices, and ideas that played Germany into the
hands of nazism after 1918. History is being repeated in Germany ; new power
is being given German imperialist warmongers. I have never been a member of
the Communist Party of the United States, but I have been for 28 years a German
Communist. I can tell you that there never was a Communist Party in the
world which would allow anyone to run its business. I do not boss the American
Communists ; they would have thought me crazy if I would have tried. Budenz
is nothing but an agent provocateur. Budenz may have been a spy or an agent,
but not because of me. I never talked with him or gave him orders. He may
know that I gave information to Starobin for articles and wrote some literature,
but that's all. To change one's opinion, as Budenz did, is one thing; but to
spread lies in order to open the doors of persecution is another story. That is why
Budenz has nothing to do with true politics, religion, or ideals. That belongs in
textbooks of different methods of persecution.
Eisler illustrated by reciting the Pied Piper of Hammelin attracting
the rats of Hammelin, stating that Budenz was the American pied
piper leading the American people to drown in the river of reaction.
I have only one wish — to return home to share the misery of my people and to
work in the ranks of those Germans who are working for a decent way of life.
Don't you think my wishes should be granted despite my being a German
Communist?
The meeting was then adjourned by the chairman.
Mr. Dekom. Are you familiar with the Committee for a Democratic
Far Eastern Policy?
Mr. HuBER. Yes, I am. That is a Communist front set up to promote
the Communists in China and tiie Far East generally ; that is, to propa-
gandize the American people on behalf of communism in Asia. This
organization was formed at the home of Frederick Vanderbilt Field,
who is an ardent supporter of the Communist Party as well as a writer
for its publications. In connection with this organization, I was able
to attend a closed meeting of the Committee for a Democratic Far
Eastern Policy held in the library of the building at 23 West Twenty-
sixth Street, New York, which houses the offices of a number of Com-
munist-front organizations. Paul Eobeson has his offices there. The
building is owned by Frederick Field. Only known persons were ad-
mitted to this meeting and about 60 were present. Ira Golubilin was
the chairman.
The first speaker, Hernando Abaya, a Filipino, and author of the
new book, Betrayal in the Philippines, stated that not only during the
war, but throughout the liberation period and up to that date, vitally
important facts concerning the inner social and political conflicts in
the Philippines had been kept from the American public and that he
had access to a great deal of inside information. He said that before
the war, he had been a journalist in Manila and one of the confidential
secretaries of the late President Manuel Quezon. During the war,
he was planted as an intelligence operative in the puppet government
by the free Philippine guerrilla unit. After the liberation of Manila,
he served as a political analyst, first for United States Armv Counter-
intelligence, and later for Paul V. McNutt, United States High Com-
missioner. He declared that it was necessary for the American people
to understand the antidemocratic character of United States policy
toward the "free" Philippines.
He denounced the McNutt administration in the Philippines, ex-
plaining that since he had been "released" by McNutt, he no longer
felt it necessary to keep confidential such information as he had been
able to obtain. He emphasized that while President Truman and
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 599
other high officials continued to support Manuel Roxas' Philippine
Government, there remained in the files of the White House and Attor-
ney General Tom Clark two copies of a report which, if made public,
would be explosive. He stated that the Philippine people were easily
swayed by newspapers and personalities ; that 75 percent of them were
illiterate; and, consequently, the collaborationists in the Philippines
were high in official positions and that this was with American support
and approval. He denounced President Roxas, stating that American
intervention had saved Roxas from prosecution for high treason — an
event which led to the exoneration of many other Filipino collaborators
and eventually put the entire state, as it was then, in the hands of
men who had worked closely with the Japanese and the entire economy
under the control of men who had done business with Hirohito. He
called for repeal of the Bell Act (the Philippine Trade Act), stating
that the present policy of independence in the Philippines was merely
a continuation of American imperialism, with only American capital
interests and the Spanish people in the Philippines benefiting from the
so-called Philippine Trade Act.
Senator Ramon Diokno, who was elected to the Philippine Senate
in 1946 as one of the opposition senators but who had been prevented
from taking his seat by the Roxas administration, spoke next. He
stated that the Americans in the Philippines were receiving more
rights and privileges than the native Filipinos; that the Filipinos
had merely exchanged one slavery — Japanese — for another — Ameri-
can ; and that, in fact, they had been better off economically under the
Japanese than they were at the time. He stated that the Philippines
were not genuinely independent but only a "banana republic," com-
plete with American military bases; that the orderly and free demo-
cratic processes of government did not exist there. He condemned the
Bell Act, pointing out that it had established an American monopoly
over the principal interests. He further charged that this act had
obstructed new Filipino enterprises. He denounced Paul V. McNutt,
stating that American policy was based solely on holding the Philip-
pines economically, even though lost politically, through the so-called
granting of independence. He stated that the American Rehabilita-
tion Act, which had granted a maximum of $500 for war claims, was
insufficient ; that the Philippine people would rather not receive such
assistance if the price therefor was to be economic slavery. He
charged that the United States was supporting with arms and money
the former collaborators who then ruled the Philippine Government,
and he called for major amendments to the Bell Act. He called upon
the American Government to give his country a square deal, and de-
manded the type of government for the Philippines which would
deserve the financial and military support of the United States.
A Mr. Babcock, who participated in the discussions following the
principal speakers, stated that he had spent most of his life as a mer-
chant in the PhilipDines and that he thoroughly agreed with them
except on one point. He felt that the Filipinos should accept the Bell
Act as the lesser of two evils; then, in the near future, they should work
toward amendment of the unfavorable portions of the Bell Act. He
agreed that the United States was not treating the Philippines fairly
as an independent nation, but said that, at the same time, the Fili-
pinos should try to make the best of things until economic conditions
600 COMMXTNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
in the islands improved. He stated that when economic conditions
improved, the Filipinos could demand that the United States loosen
the restrictions then contained in the Bell Act.
Maude Kussell announced that the committee would conduct a
speakers' class on China on January 18 and 19 at the library, 23 West
Twenty-sixth Street, which would train speakers to thoroughly dis-
cuss the problems of China.
Chairman Ira Golubin then reminded the audience that this was an
"off-the-record"' meeting, and asked that the members govern them-
selves accordingly in discussions outside. He announced that the
nest committee meeting would be on the question of Japan, and that
the people on the committee's mailing list would be notified of the
time and place of the meeting.
A proposed statement to Congress and the President for the repeal
of the Bell Act was distributed to each one present. Then Frederick
V. Field made a motion that the statement be submitted immediately
for action when the new Congress convenes and this motion was passed
unanimously.
The chairman announced that members of the Veterans of the
Philippine Campaign who were present at the meeting would meet
immediately after that meeting had adjourned.
Mr. Dekom. Mr. Huber, do you know of the violation of our borders
by Communists?
Mr. Huber. Yes; I know of thousands of Spanish Communists
who have crossed the Mexican b rder :nto t!ie Ui:ited States. It was
told to me by various party members in the course of my connection
with them through the years.
These Spanish Communists have meetings in the building at 2S
West Twenty-sixth Street, New York, which is owned by Frederick
Vanderbilt Field, a member of the Communist Party. These per-
sons are a serious potential danger to the country ; they are potential
spies and saboteurs, particularly in the event of war with Russia.
Being aliens, they have no feelings of loyalty for this country which
might sway an American-born Communist in the event of war with
a foreign power.
Mr. Dekom. Mr. Huber, I will read to you a summary of S. 1832, as
presented by Senator McCarran, and I will ask you to comment on
that :
I have today introduced a bill to revise our immigration laws in such a way
as to place in the hands of the Government adequate powers to cope with the
fifth-column tactics of international communism. Tlie purpose of this bill is to
plug the loopholes of the present law so that any alien — and I emphasize the
word "any"^ — who engages in espionage or other subversive activity must be
excluded or deported.
Let me emphasize in the beginning that this legislation will not in any way
curb the legitimate activities of anyone, whether he be an immigrant, a visitor,
a diplomat, or a delegate to an international organization.
This bill has only one purpose — to protect the people of the United States
from any alien who abuses the traditional American hospitality by working for
the overthrow of our Government. And, Mr. President, I mean any alien.
My bill is designed to sever the international life line which is feeding the
Communist conspiracy in this country.
Mr. Huber, on the basis of your experience in the Communist move-
ment, as well as your knowledge of Communist Party policies and
tactics, will you comment on this proposed legislation ?
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 601
Mr. HuBER. I feel that there is a vital need for additional security
laws as well as a need for more strict enforcement of the laws that we
have. It is my opinion that the agencies interested in promoting the
welfare of the United States should concentrate more of their forces
on the menace of communism as being directed against our form of
Government.
Those Americans who ignorantly and foolishly follow the so-called
liberal line of the Communists should be awakened to the dangers
facing them in the achievement of the party's true purpose.
Communists in civil and public service should be thoroughly purged
by declaring the Communist Party illegal and unconstitutional and
refusing it a place on the American election ballot ; by revoking the
citizonsliip of any foreign-born member of the party, followed by
deportation; by prison sentences for the native-born members; and,
finally, by the complete liquidation and eradication of communism
and its adherents from the American scene.
JNIr. Dekom. That is all, Mr. Huber. Thank you very much.
(Thereupon the subcommittee adjourned at 12:30 p. m., subject
to call.)
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES AMONG ALIENS AND
NATIONAL GROUPS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBEB 9, 1949
United States Senate,
Special Subcommittee to Investigate
Immigration and Naturalization of the
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, D. C.
The subcommittee met in executive session at 3 p. m., in room 424,
Senate Office Building, Senator Herbert R. O'Conor presiding.
Present : Senator O'Conor.
Also present: Messers. Frank W. Schroeder and Otto J. Dekom,
professional staff members.
Senator O'Conor. Let us proceed, gentlemen.
Will you raise your right hand, please ?
In the presence of Almighty God, do you swear that the testimony
you shall give in this hearing shall be the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth ?
Dr. Draskovich. I do.^
TESTIMONY OF DR. SLOBODAN M. DEASKOVICH, FOEMER
PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, UNIVERSITY OF BELGRADE
Senator O'Conor. Will you please state your full name?
Dr. Draskovich. My full name is Slobodan M. Draskovich.
Senator O'Conor. In what city are you now residing?
Dr. Draskovich. In New York.
Senator O'Conor. How long have you been in this country ?
Dr. Draskovich. A little over 2 years.
Senator O'Conor. And from what country did you come?
Dr. Draskovich. I came directly from Paris, France.
Senator O'Conor. What is your native land?
Dr. Draskovich. My native land is Yugoslavia.
Senator O'Conor. What profession did you follow in Yugoslavia?
Dr. Draskovich. I was professor of economics at the University of
Belgrade.
Senator O'Conor. You are familiar with the subject matter under
inquiry by this subcommittee ?
Dr. Draskovich. I think so.
Senator O'Conor. Mr. Dekom, will you take up the matter from
there, then ?
The witness appeared under subpena.
603
604 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Mr. Dekom. Dr. Draskovich, have you ever been a member of the
Yugoslav armed forces which fought against the Fascist and Nazi
armies ?
Dr. Draskovich. Yes ; I was, in 1941, wlien the war broke out, when
Yugoslavia was invaded by Nazi Germany. I was an infantry lieu-
tenant of the reserve in the Yugoslav Army. I was called up and I
was in the army during the 10 days of the war.
Mr. Dekom. Then what happened to you ?
Dr. Draskovich. I was made a prisoner by the Italians and Ger-
mans and taken to a prison camp in Italy ; first to Aversa, a prison
camp for Yugoslav officers in Italy, and then to Gavi, in Italy. I
spent 2l^ years there, that is, until the downfall of Italy, and then I
was taken to Germany to the Osnabriick prison camp, where I stayed
until the end of the war.
Mr. Dekom. Then what did you do ?
Dr. Draskovich. Then I stayed in Germany for almost a year and
a half. I was in DP camps. I was fighting Communist propaganda,
especially of the Tito regime. After that, I went to Paris, in August
of 1946, "where I stayed until June of 1947, when I came to the United
States on the invitation of the American Serb organizations in this
country.
Mr. Dekom. Did you hold any position in any organizations in
your native country prior to the war ?
Dr. Draskovich. I was professor of economics at the University of
Belgrade and I was a regular member of the institute of national
defense of the Ministry of War.
Mr. Dekom. Did you have any connection with the Serbian Cultural
Club?
Dr. Draskovich. I was general secretary of the Serbian Cultural
Club.
Mr. Dekom, As a professor of economics did you have occasion to
study Communist doctrine or Communist economics?
Dr. Draskovich. As a professor I had not only the occasion and
the duty to study communism theoretically, but, unfortunately, I had
also the opportunity of studying at the University of Belgrade — which
was one of the mam centers of Communist activity in Yugoslavia —
the Communist practices.
In 1920, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia was outlawed in a
most democratic manner by the overwhelming majority of the Yugo-
slav Parliament, which was freely elected. The Communist Party
did not officially exist after that, but it was active underground, and
especially after 1929, one of tlie main centers of their activity was
the University of Belgrade. So a great part of the leaflets, demon-
strations, strikes, and the intellectual direction of the Communist
activities in Yugoslavia were centered at the University of Belgrade.
Mr. Dekom. In other words, your knowledge of communism is not
only theoretic and academic but comes from personal observation and
experience ?
Dr. Draskovich. Definitely so.
Mr. Dekom. Dr. Draskovich, did you prepare a statement on the
Yugoslav Communist press in the United States at the request of the
subcommittee?
Dr. Draskovich. Yes ; I have.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 605
Mr. Dekom. Do you have that statement with you now ?
Dr. Draskovich. Yes ; I have it here.
Mr. Dekom. We have studied your statement, Dr. Draskovich, and
we believe you have done an exceedingly careful and scholarly re-
search job in your analysis. In view of the length of the material
which you have here — over 100 single-spaced pages, in addition to a
number of exhibits which you have in your possession — may I sug-
gest that you at this time summarize your report. The report itself
will then be made a part of our record.
Dr. Draskovich. If there is no objection to it, I might read the
conclusion, which consists of four pages.
Mr. Dekom. Would you then also, in addition to reading your con-
clusion, provide the suticommittee with illustrative examples and ex-
planations as you go along, taken from the text of your material ?
Dr. Draskovich. Yes, of course. My conclusion is the following :
All the evidence presented in this report points to a few elementary
facts concerning the "progressive" American Serbs and Croats, and
more particularly, the Narodni Glasnik and the Slobodna Eec.
Mr. Dekom. Dr. Draskovich, you have named two newspapers.
Would you tell us where these newspajDers are published ?
Dr. Draskovich. Both newspapers are published in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Mr. Dekom. Before you go on, Dr. Draskovich, would you care to
comment on the word "progressive" that you have used in your pre-
pared statement
Dr. Draskovich. I use all through this work the term "progressive"
because I thought I had to prove that they were Communists. They
are definitely Communist, but officially it is not known that they are
affiliates of the Communist Party.
Mr. Dekom. In other words, you used the term "progressive" to
indicate that they call themselves "progressive"'?
Dr. Draskovich. That is right ; and I have also put it in quotations.
Mr. Dekom. In other words, you mean so-called progressives, self-
styled progressives ?
Dr. Draskovich. That is right.
Mr. Dekom. So that you mean actually, when you use the term
"progressive," that it indicates the Communist or pro-Communist or-
ganizations calling themselves progressive organization ?
Dr. Draskovich. Definitely. I think it is just a cover for their
Communist activities, because many people who dislike communism
will fall for progressiveness.
Mr. Dekom. You do not, however, imply that every progressive is
a Communist ?
Dr. Draskovich. No; definitely not. But the term "progressive"
has long ago ceased to be used only to indicate people who believe in
human progress and work for it and has become a weapon in the hands
of tiie Communists. So I think that this weapon should be forced
from their hands by disclosing the links between so-called progressiv-
ism and communism. At the moment this term is being used to the
greatest profit by the Communists.
Mr. Dekom. These particular self-styled progressive organizations
are actually all Communist organizations ?
Dr. Draskovich. That is right.
For example, I mean the Narodni Glasnik and Slobodna Kec. I
think all of the organizations that are connected with these two news-
606 COIVCVIU^IST ACTI\'ITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
papers are listed as subversive organizations by former Attorney
General Clark. For instance, the Slobodna Eec, the Serbian Progres-
sive Movement, the Vidovdan Council, are all in fact on and the
same thing. Of course, I was not repeating all that, but when I say
"progressive" I mean these two newspapers and the American Serbs
and American Croats who are rallying around them.
Mr. Dekom. Dr. Draskovich, I merely wanted to make the record
clear on that score so that tliere will be no mistaking your intention
and your meaning, that you are referring to these Communists and
pro-Communist organizations and not to progressives in general.
Dr. Draskovich. Definitely, that is the correct meaning of the
term "progressives" that I am using here.
Mr. Dekom. Please proceed.
Dr. Draskovich. All the evidence presented in this report points
to a few elementary facts concerning the progressive American Serbs
and Croats, and more particularly, the Narodni Glasnik and the
Slobodna Rec, namely :
(1) That these two newspapers have never, on any single occasion, on any
single issue, supported the stand of the United States Government.
If I may add one more comment, there have been a few occasions
where these newspapers agreed with the United States Govermiient,
but only on issues of second-rate importance and only if the stand of
the United States was identical with the stand of the Soviet Union.
For instance, as in the case of the Charter of Human Rights or any
matter concerning the United Nations, or such things. But in any
case where the stand of the United States Government was different
from the stand of the Soviet Union, they sided with the Soviet Union.
That is the second point.
(2) That they always, without a single exception, have given full, uncondi-
tional, and unrestricted support to the official stand of the Government of the
Soviet Union.
(3) That their attitude toward Yugoslavia, the country of their origin,
depended solely and entirely on the existing relations between Yugoslavia and
the Soviet Union ; that is, on the policy of the Yugoslav Government in power
toward the Soviet Union, or, to put it more precisely, on the policy of the Soviet
Government toward the regime in Yugoslavia.
I have put in the last sentence because of the Cominform-Tito clash.
Tito claims that he is faithful to Marxism and Leninism and, until
recently, he claimed that he was also faithful to Moscow. But that
was immaterial ; the important thing was that Moscow did not approve
of him. So that was decisive for the people we are considering here
to decide against Tito'.
Mr. Dekom. So that regardless of what the policy of any govern-
ment, including our own, might be, they accept it only if it happens to
coincide with Soviet policy?
Dr. Draskovich. That is right.
Mr. Dekom. And if it should happen, as it has on many occasions,
that the Soviet policy makes drastic and radical changes on a certain
question, they have changed with it, regardless of what their own
previous stand was?
Dr. Draskovich. Definitely. I think I have presented a rather ac-
curate documentation regarding Yugoslavia after the Cominform-
Tito clash.
Mr. Dekom. Your contention. Dr. Draskovich, is that these so-called
progressive Yugoslavs in the United States have faithfully followed
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 607
every twist and turn of the Communist Party line as dictated in
Moscow ?
Dr. Draskovich. That is right. Even in that respect I have pointed
out here that there are three distinctive phases, after the First World
War through today, in the position of these papers toward
Yugoslavia.
The first one is priot to the rise of Tito to power. Until then Yugo-
slavia was a thoroughly anti-Communist country. Until 1940, it had
no diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. So the stand of
Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik was 100 percent inimical to Yugo-
slavia. They used the usual slogans that they are using against the
United States, of course adapted to the circumstances of Yugoslavia.
'F'hen en me Tito; from that m.oment of August 1944, until the 28th
of June 1948, was the second phase. All of a sudden they became
ardent Yugoslav patriots. Everything in Yugoslavia was fine and
all right, general progress and democracy and freedom, all problems
solved, nnd so forth. During that period Moscow was with Yugo-
slavia and approved of the regime in Yugoslavia, and that was the
reap-on for the stand I just mentioned.
Then comes the third phase, where the stand of Moscow toward
Yugoslavia changed, and the Slobodna Rec and the Narodni Glasnik
closely followed in its wake — as I have proven in this document —
using the same arguments and very often reprinting the articles from
the Daily Worker, So, after a very short while, their stand was — as
I affain proved bv examples — 100 percent against Yugoslavia.
Mr. Dekom. What change took place on June 28 in the Government
of Yugoslavia; it was the same Government in existence before and
after June 28, was it not ?
Dr. Draskovich. It was exactly the same government.
Mr. Dekom. So that actuallv the sudden propagarda campaign of
these Communist newspapers in the United States had nothing to do
with the real situation?
Dr. Draskovich. Certainly not.
Mr. Dekom. What did it depend on ?
Dr. Draskovich. It depended solely and exclusively on the change
of the ISIoscow ]:)olicy toward Yugoslavia.
To continue:
(4) That the criticism by the Sloboda Rec and the Narodni Glasnik leveled
at the existing social and political order in the United States follows to the
letter the line of Communist strategy and tactics. These two newspapers not
only are doing their best to illustrate the main theses of the Marxist-Leninist
theory, but follow closely and conscientiously the line of Communist tactics them-
selves, especially the new tactics of the Communist Party of the so-called anti-
Fascist peoples' front adopted at the Seventh Congress of the Communist
International and elaborated in detail in the two most recent works of William
Z. Foster, The Twilight of World Capitalism and In Defense of the Communist
Party and the Indicted Leaders.
Reduced to its essentials, the Communist theory consists of the following
theses ;
(a) Capitalism is the source of exploitation, oppression, and all evil in this
world.
(&) Capitalism, owing to its inner structure and the laws of its development, is
doomed to failure.
(c) On the ruins of capitalism a new order will be installed — the Socialist
order.
(d) Although the downfall of capitalism is unavoidable because it is subject
to laws as unchangeable as natural laws, the downfall of capitalism will not be
608 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
achieved automatically. The working class, which is the creator of socialism,
in order to achieve victory must necessarily be organized into a party ; not a
bourgeois party which follows the rules and can function only within the
parliamentary system, the party of the working class must be a "new type" party,
a militant vanguard party, which will prepare and organize the workers for
direct revolutionary action and a forcible overthrow of the existing capitalistic
order and government.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Does that mean the overthrow of all capitalistic
governments in the world?
Dr. Draskovich. This centers now on the United States, because, as
William Z. Foster points out in both of his mentioned works — and
the argument is used in the Narodni Glasnik and the Slobodna Kec —
the roots of all evil, the center of all evil in the world, is in the United
States. At the same time, the strongest capitalistic country in the
world is the United States. So they believe that if they destroy the
United States, capitalism will come to an end everywhere else in the
world because capitalism can live in other countries only as long as it
lives in the United States.
Mr. ScHROEDER. In other words, the United States is No. 1 on
the list?
Dr. Draskovich. Definitely, yes. I think, if I may quote, that that
is the term that Mr. Foster uses' — "enemy No. 1."
Mr. Dekom. Would you identify the source of your material, please?
Dr. Draskovich. This is William Foster's book. The Twilight of
World Capitalism.
Mr. Dekom. Please read the entire quotation.
Dr. Draskovich. This appears on page 43, in the chapter which
bears the title "Capitalism Grows Cannibalistic." He says :
This country, precisely because it is the chiof center of monopoly capitalism, is
at the same time the main fortress of world reaction and warmongering. Such a
democratic government as the Progressive Party aimed at in the 1948 elec-
tions— a government based on a coalition of the workers, farmers, Negroes, pro-
fessionals, and small businessmen — could lay important curbs upon the big mo-
nopolists, who are the No. 1 enemies of present-day peace and democracy.
Mr. ScHROEDER. In other words, their theory is' to destroy this Nation
where the people have the highest standard of living in the world?
Dr. Draskovich. Not only that, but I think what worries them and
why they are so much against the United States is that the United
States is a living example that people of all nationalities and races and
origins can live together and prosper, and that this country, which is
composed of people from all over the world, is doing well owing to its
traditions and its' democracy. That fact, of course, is very harmful to
their propaganda in the world.
Mr. Dekom. Is it your opinion that they expect to obtain world
domination by destroying the democratic strength of the United
States?
Dr. Draskovich. Definitely so.
Mr. Dekom. So actually their goal is world domination, but the first
and principal obstacle in their way is that the United States is still a
powerful democracy whose people are willing to fight for its defense ?
Dr. Draskovich. That is correct. If I may cite, in that connection,
the Daily Worker, which in its issue of February 11, 1949, carries an
interesting interview with Mao Tse-tung, the leader of the Chinese
Communists, by Anna Louise Strong.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 609
In that interview, Mao Tse-tung explains that America must be
destroyed, and he says that between the Soviet Union and the Govern-
ment of the United States are the American people. So the United
States, which wants to fight the Soviet Union, must first fight its own
people. That is what the Government is doing by introducing
Fascist methods into the United States. Then iVmerica, before reach-
ing the Soviet Union, will further have to fight other countries which
are not socialistic, and so will turn the whole world against them-
selves.
In other words, he tries to prove that the root of all evil is the
United States. It is the main impediment for world domination by
the Communist Party, so it must be destroyed.
Mr. Dekom. You mentioned the name of Anna Louise Strong —
is she not the same woman who was editor of the Moscow Daily News ?
Dr. Draskovich. That is the person. My impression from her
articles on Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Communists was that she
is thoroughly Communist.
Mr. Dekom. Please continue.
Dr. Draskovich. To continue :
(e) The United States is no exception to the above rules. On the contrary,
capitalism in the United States exemplifies most drastically all the main theses
of Leninism, which is Marxism in the imperialistic phase of capitalistic develop-
ment. Capitalism in America is thus bound to fall, owing to its own internal
contradictions and inability to solve the growing difficulties inherent in capitalism
as a system.
(/) But since, according to Marx, Lenin, and Stalin, no ruling class in history
ever gave up its privileged position without struggle — never voluntarily disap-
peared from the world stage — American capitalism is doing its best to keep, at
all costs, the unique position whicli it has in the present world.
(g) These efforts of American capitalism to keep its position at any price
are entirely undemocratic. Since its downfall is inexorable, American capi-
talism— i)ersonified by Wall Street bankers and political reaction — must neces-
sarily pursue a policy of fascism in America and the policy of imperialism which
leads to war in its relations with other countries.
(h) In pursuing such a policy. Wall Street and American reaction must neces-
sarily clash with the interests of the common people in America as well as with
the interests of all people in the world. The internal and international tension
which ensue must necessarily lead to an open conflict between world capitalism,
headed by Wall Street, and the front of democracy and peace, headed by the
Soviet Union,
(t) The growing violence of the capitalists must be met by violence on the
part of the people. The entire program of the Communist Party, its press, and all
affiliated organizations, is to prepare the people for the conflict which is bound
to come, so that the sinister intrigues of capitalists can be met and "the people
smash the power of the ruling capitalists, take control themselves, and enter
into genuinely fraternal relations with other peoples, particularly with the
USSR."
This background is necessary for the correct understanding and
appraisal of the policy and propaganda of any "progressive" organi-
zation in the United States, since the Marxist-Leninist theory requires
a special technique of propaganda.
This special technique is well illustrated in the pages of the Slobodna
Rec and the Narodni Glasnik. This technique is to follow a few
simple rules :
No news or articles must be published which could possibly harm the mental
and political preparation of the people for the overthrow of capitalism. All news
must be carefully selected so as to support any one of the main theses of Marxism-
Leninism. This applies not only to the editorials but to the most insignificant
610 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
item published in tlie papers, such as cartoons, photographs, announcements, and
advertisements.
Moreover, every single item must be carefully selected so as to increase the
belief of the readers in the inevitability of the downfall of capitalism in the right-
eousness of the Communist cause, and to increase their w^illingness to take an
active part in the decisive revolutionary struggle.
In our case these simple rules are carried out by —
1. Always presenting the United States in an unfavorable light. Every single
copy of the newsi^ayers must present new evidence of the rottenness of American
capitalism, of the deep rift between the interests of Wall Street and reaction on
the one hand, and the workers and the people on the other.
2. Always presenting the Soviet Union in a favorable light by giving examples
of its domestic policy favorable to the people, and foreign policy favorable to
peace, and serving the interests of all mankind.
3. Commenting on all events and all problems so as to indict the United States
and praise the Soviet Union.
4. Proving that there is no conflict of interest between the United States as a
whole and the Soviet Union, but that the main conflict exists inside America itself ;
namely, beween its ruling class and the broad masses of the people.
5. Presenting all the United States Government's policies and activities which
tend to strengthen America as militaristic. Fascist, and imperialistic, and recom-
mending a policy of weakening America militarily, politically, and spiritually as
being favorable to the cause of the American people and international peace
and well-being.
Mr. Dekom. Would you cite at this point some specific example of
the attacks on the United States or its Government, please ?
Dr. Draskovich. I can do that, sir.
I have here examples of the Sloboclna Rec and Navodni Glasnik
propaganda concernnig the foreign policy of the United States, and
the domestic policy or the internal situation.
For instance, in the Slobodna Rec of June 17, 1947, No. 67, page 3,
a "poem of the workers" is published under the title, "Oh, Great
Justice" by Jovan Radulovich, Detroit, Mich. The author attacks
the Truman doctrine, which he calls un-American, stating that all
that is the deal of a clique of wealthy people "against communism and
against the Russians." But the workers "are graduated politically
and will not tolerate dictatorship. Whatever happens, they will not
be blind slaves."
Then in the Slobodna Rec of December 13, 1947, Nikola Baltich, one
of the leading Communists among American Serbs in New York City,
Avrites an article in which he says :
All reactionary cliques of this country and the rest of the world are firmly
determined to annihilate progress and install reaction, to deprive the people of
their civil rights, and, instead of democratic rights and liberties, to organize
the persecution of all progressive persons and organizations, as well as of
national minorities.
In the Narodni Glasnik of December 1, 1948, page 1, under the title,
"Plan for the Three Months' Campaign of the Narodni Glasnik," is
published a report by Editor Mary Sumrak at the National Confer-
ence of the Narodni' Glasnik in Cleveland, Ohio. Before outlining
the tasks of this paper, Mary Sumrak makes herself clear on the situ-
ation in America :
' * * The principal forces against the establishment of peace in the
world are just in this country. These forces are threatening a new war. They
are responsible for the big armaments in our country. They are creating hysteria
and warmongering, and preventing a peaceful settlement of disputes between
nations — in the first place in agreement with the Soviet Union and the new democ-
racies in Europe.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 611
In the Slobodna Rec of May 27, 1947, page 3, a report by Marko J.
Murisich, of San Francisco, is published on the case of an elderly man
^Yllo applied to the State Department for a passport to visit his ailing
son in Tiigoslavia but was refused. In the report, which bears the
title, "Do They Have Any Parents' Love at All f it is said :
Can such a thing happen in the country of Washington, in the country of
Jefferson, in the country of Lincoln ?
It can happen. * * *
The old man asked me "Do people in the State Department have children?"
"Ihey certainly have," said I.
How would they feel if some ill-famed government of some foreign country
would deny them the right to go abroad to see their own children? * * *
The history of this war has shown that the Fascist beasts have no more feeling
toward a child than they have toward the most dangerous wild beasts. I do not
Ivuow then how people in the State Department can be without parental love or
how it is possible that they do not think, at least in cases like this one, of parental
love.
It seems to me that reaction in America is not much different from that of the
Fascists.
All this is concerning the American foreign policy.
As for the internal situation, they say, for instance, in the article
again of Mary Sumrak in the Narodni Glasnik of May 9, 1947, page 3,
under the page-wide heading "Croatian Women at Work for a Better
and Happier Future" :
On Mother's Day this year not all graves of all soldiers who fell have
yet been found. The tears of bereaved mothers have not yet dried and already
new black clouds are casting shadows over the earth; already those who from
the blood of sons and daughters are drawing personal profits are warmongering
and provoking a third world war. They do not care about mothers' feelings ;
they do not care about anything but their greed. A handful of billionaires who
are ruthlessly plundering American mothers and taking away from them the
bread from their table, being afraid of the people, afraid that they will lose the
unlimited right to profit and plunder, have plotted against the democratic peoples
who have risen from the ruins of Fascist military power, who have acquired free-
dom, and who, in their ranks, are building a new world of equality and brother-
hood. This small handful of ruthless and greedy people is threatening with,
a new war, is threatening with atomic bombs, and is bent upon taking away from
millions of mothers what is most precious to them — their children.
Again, it is interesting in connection with the question of violence
that there appeared in the Slobodna Eec of May 27, 1947, a poem
published by Sofia Mark, of Detroit, Mich., entitled "To My Son
Charlie":
To raise your fist against slavery, fascism,
And all other cynicism * * *
There will be waves of struggle for you yet,
Because the world has freedom to get.
To worry for food and other things.
In the land of plenty and everything * * *
Your name will be in line with others
Who gave their lives to break the chains and orders.
It is interesting to quote an article by Nikola Baltich, in the Slo-
bodna Rec of September 20, 1947, No. 105, against the decision of the
Department of State not to issue passports for visitors to Yugoslavia,
under the title "The Voice of the People Ought To Be Heard." It
is noteworthy that here, again, the writers of the Slobodna Rec make
a distinction betw^een the Government and the people of the United
States, whereas they always identify people and Go\ ernment when the
Soviet Union is concerned.
I
612 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
There is an interesting comparison between Wall Street and Hitler
and Mnssolini in a letter allegedly received from Yugoslavia by
Obrenija Biberdzic, of Chicago, 111., and published in the Slobodna
Kec of November 26, 1947, page 3. It reads, in part :
On the whole, everything is all ri-ht. But it seems to me that those trusts
of yours hate us. They would like us to be obedient slaves of Wall Street,
but we want to lead our own lives. If anyone goes off his head and touches us,
we will send him along the same road as Hitler and Mussolini ; that is the message
of eastern Europe to all those who want to subdue and oppress otiier peoples. * * *
With us are justice and the working people of the whole world.
Besides comparing Wall Street to Hitler and Mnssolini, this piece
of "progressive" prose also repeats the Communist thesis of the unity
of the working people of the whole world.
There is no doubt that the simple rules of Communist propaganda
have been very carefully applied by the Slobodna Rec and the Narodni
Glasnik, although it might have appeared to readers not well enough
acquainted with Marxist theory and tactics that they were sometimes
strongly deviating from the Communist line and assuming an unbiased
or even patriotic attitude.
This is best exemplified in the insistence with which the Com-
munists of the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik underline the neces-
sity for America to remain faithful to the struggle of the American
people in the Second Woi-ld War — I am using the word "Communists"
here because I consider tliat I have proved already that people around
these two papers really are Communists, so that now I can use the
correct term — this insistence is only apparently patriotic, since the
Slobodna Rec and the Narodni Glasnik, in the same way as the Daily
Worker, always speak of the anti-Fascist struggle and carefully avoid
speaking of the struggle for America and for American democracy.
It is not by accident that George Pirinsky of the American Slav Con-
gress entitles his fiery "patriotic" article published in the Narodni
Glasnik and the Slobodna Rec of December 18, 1948, "We remain True
to Our Wartime Pledge to Fight Fascism." Such patriotism fits
exactly into the Communist picture of the present world ; namely, that
the Second World War was not waged against Nazi Germany and
Fascist Italy and Japan, but against fascism in the world, whose main
representatives are today the Government of the United States and
the political, economic, social, and cultural leaders of this coimtry.
The stand of the Slobodna Rec and the Narodni Glasnik is more
clearly illustrated by their very close connections and cooperation with
other organizations which, undoubtedly, follow the Communist line.
The similarity of the propaganda of these two newspapers with that
of the Daily Worker, organ of the Communist Party of the United
States, or with the writings of William Z. Foster, chairman of the
American Communist Party; the role which these two newspapers
have admittedly played in the creation of the American Communist
Party; the role which they have admittedly played in the creation of
the American Slav Congress ; their strong links with the All-Slav Com-
mittee in Moscow ; the full and unconditional support they gave and
are giving to the Progressive Party of Henry A. Wallace; and their
close connections with that particular party— all of these facts point
to the conclusion that these two newspapers and the people gathered
around them are neither American nor Yugoslav nor Serb nor Croat
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 613
patriots, but members of the world-wide organization of the
Communist Party.
As had been strikingly proved by the variations of their stand toward
Yugoslavia in the course of the last 10 or 15 years, these people have
no loyalty either toward America, whose citizens they are, or toward
Yugoslavia, the country of their origin, but one single loyalty^ — the
loyalty to the Soviet Union and its Communist Party. These two
newspapers are not independent and well-intentioned organs of Amer-
ican public opinion, but only links in a world-wide organization which
sees in the United States, its present order, its democratic conditions
and institutions, and all that this country stands for, is the main enemy
which must be crushed at any price. Instead of objectively inform-
ing their readers, who are one part of the American people, and edu-
cating them to better citizenship, they are conditioning them mentally
to become tools in the hands of a foreign power against their own
country. They are preparing them for the "big undertaking" of
defeating capitalism (Foster), for the "ultimate emancipation from
capitalism (Weinstone^), which, in simple terms, amounts to saying
that it is preparing them to take an active part in transforming any
future international war against the enemies of the United States into
a civil war inside the United States. They are preparing them and
conditioning them mentally and politically to be traitors to their own
country.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Doctor, the two newspapers that you discuss in your
statement, do you have any knowledge of the circulation of those two
newspapers in the United States ?
Dr. Draskovicii. That I could not tell you. I think that the
Slobodna Kec is somewhere around 4,000 or 5,000 copies.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Is that daily or weekly ?
Dr. Draskovich. It is published three times a week.
Mr. Dekom. That is not, however, its total readership? More
people read the paper than subscribe to it ; is that right 'i
Dr. Draskovich. That is right.
Mr. Dekom. They are family papers?
Dr. Draskovich. That is right.
]Mr. Dekom. You have made an exhaustive analysis of these two
newspapers. Could you name other newspapers published in any of
the three Yugoslav national languages which follow the Communist
Party line in the United States.
Dr. Draskovich. The Zajednicar, which is an organ of the Croatian
Fraternal Union, is not 100 percent on the same line as Narodni Glas-
nik. Until 1943, that organization was not in Communist hands.
Its editor was not a Communist, At the convention in 1943, a queer
thing happened. The ruling board was mixed. Some people were
"progressives"; some were not, but the editor, Filip Vukelich, was,
to say the least, a fellow traveler.
Then the second, even stronger push toward the left, happened in
1947; at that convention the Communists took over. They won
a victory. From 1947 on, the Zajednicar has been fairly closely fol-
lowing the Communist line. It is interesting to note that in the
Cominform-Tito rift, although inclined m/ore favorably toward Mos-
> William Welnstone, educational director, New York State Communist Party.
S.8.S30 — 50— pt. 2—11
614 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
COW than to Tito, they were still hesitating and hoping for concilia-
tion.
Mr. Dekom. What is the approximate circulation of that news-
paper ?
Dr. Draskovich. I would not be sure, but I imagine it is about
30,000.
Mr. Dekom. That, too, is a family newspaper and is read by many
more people than subscribe to it ?
Dr. Draskovich. It is a family paper in the same way that the
Srbobran, the organ of the Serb National Federation, is.
Mr. Dekom. That is not a pro-Communist organization?
Dr. Draskovich. Definitely not. The Serb National Federation,
the Serbian National Defense Council of America, together with the
Serbian Orthodox Diocese, are organizations around which are cen-
tered the great majority of American Serbs who definitely are good
American patriots, and, at the same time, respect Serbian traditions
and are cultivating their Serbian customs and Serbian national life
in this country.
Mr. Dekom. Does the fact that some of the newspapers in the Yugo-
slav language are Communist or pro-Communist imply in any way
that a majority of the Yugoslavs in this country are either Commu-
nists or pro-Communists ?
Dr. Draskovich. No. The situation is the clearest with the Serbs,
because with the Serbs the percentage of Communists, as I have quoted
in this report, is the lowest of all Slavic national groups — well under
10 percent. So, the Srbobran plays a much greater role than the
Slobodna Kec, because it has a much larger circulation — over 30,000
copies are circulated.
Mr. Dekom. If legislation were enacted which would provide for
the deportation of aliens involved in Communist fronts or Communist
activities, would that seriously affect, let us say, the Serbian popula-
tion of this country ?
Dr. Draskovich. I doubt it, since most of them are American citi-
zens.
Mr. Dekom. So that it would affect only a small number who are
disloyal?
Dr. Draskovich. I think so.
Mr. Dekom. Do you see any objection to such legislation?
Dr. Draskovich. No. If I may utter my opinion on a matter con-
cerning the United States, I think that it would be most propitious
and for the best interests of this country, because the least which can
ba asked from people living in this country, whether citizens or not,
is to be loyal to the institutions and traditions of this country. People
who are violating this rule definitely do not deserve to live in this
country.
Mr. Dekom. You do not believe that would work an injustice on
anyone ?
Dr. Draskovich. On the contrary, I think it would be a most right-
eous and just measure.
Mr. Schroeder. Doctor, you have mentioned three or four of the
pro-Communist newspapers printed in this country. Do you have any
knowledge that these papers are being subsidized or receiving finan-
cial aid from any foreign governments?
COMRiUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 615
Dr. Draskovich. I really could not tell you. That is the usual
Communist practice. That is what they do elsewhere. For instance,
the two former editors of Slobodna Roc, Srdjan Prica and Stevan
Dedijer— who, by the way, were highly praised in 1947 and are bitterly
attacked now in the Slobodna Rec because the»y are siding with Tito —
have, to my knowledge, bought the Croatian paper Novi Swiet, and
they intend to publisli it as a Communist paper— but a Tito paper.
That, of course, is not quite, an answer to your question. I mean, that
is just an example of their usual practice of trying to meddle in the
affairs of this country from abroad.
Mr. Dekom. Can you name any additional newspapers published
in this country which follow the Communist line?
Dr. Draskovich. A very strongly communistic paper is Narodna
Volya, which is a Macedonian and Bulgarian newspaper.
For instance, in the issue of January 16, 1948, the Narodna Volya
carried an excerpt from the Daily Worker of "Mao Tse-tung's
Thoughts," to the effect that the atomic bomb, which belongs to Amer-
ica, "will not destroy the people, but the people will destroy the atomic
bomb," and that Avill be the end of American capitalism.
Mr. Dekom. Have you examined the issues of the Narodna Volya ?
Dr. Draskovich. Just a few of them.
Mr. Dekom. Did you notice whether or not they reprinted articles
from the Daily Worker ?
Dr. DijASKOvicH. Yes, sir. I think that all these papers are molded
after the same pattern. If one studies the Slobodna Rec and the
Narodni Glasnik with tlie Narodna Volya, one finds exactly the same
thing m another language— the same news, the same editorials, the
same stand on all issues concerning this country.
Mr. Dekom. Is there a Slovene Communist newspaper published
m the United States, to your knowledge?
Dr. Draskovich. Yes; the Enakopravnost, which means "equalitV
of rights." ^ -^
Mr. Schroeder. Doctor, with all of these pro-Communist news-
papers that you have cited which are printed and circulated in the
United States, do you think they sway the opinion of the people that
read them ? ^ ^
Dr. Draskovich. I think they do to a certain extent, because, for
mstance, it we consider the Serbian or Croatian national o-roups there
are quite a few people, especially those who are foreign-born, who do
not sufliciently understand English. For them, it is simpler to read
a, newspaper m their own language than to read the paper in English
Lonsequently, they rely on that single newspaper, and the information
they get is from that single newspaper. So, even though there are
people who are not Communists among the subscribers, in the course
at time they certainly get biased or indoctrinated by reading every
iay, or three tmies a week, the same paper, which is following strictlv
the Communist Party line.
Mr. Schroeder. In other words, if our immigrants or aliens that
:ome to the United States would be taught English, and the American
way of lite, they would have a broader knowledge of our system of
government and would not be so susceptible to the propaganda that
is published m these foreign-language Communist newspapers?
Dr. Draskoa^ch. I thmk there might be a difference, but less than
s expected, because, if they would not have their papers in their own
616 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
language, tliey would be obliged to learn English properly. Then it
is certain that the Daily Worker would come in and would try to fill
the place of the Narodni Glasnik and Slobodna Rec.
Mr. Dekom. In view of the limited success with which the Daily
Worker has met with the English-speaking people, would you con-
sider that their chances of success would be very great ? i
Dr. Draskovicii. I do not think so.
Mr. Dekom. So it would actually be a benefit if these people were
required to learn our language and our way of life, as Mr. Schroeder
pointed out? tt • j
Dr. Draskovich. I think it would be rather fairer to the United
States to do that, but I do not think it would make much difference.
The Daily Worker, as much as I can appraise, would not be able to
make new inroads. But, on the other hand, I do not think the result
of their learning English would be very considerable.
Mr. Dekom. Would it make any difference in persuading them to
read American newspapers written in English, such as, for example,
the American newspapers published in Pittsburgh ? Would the peo- 1
pie be persuaded to read them ?
Dr. Draskovich. If that was possible— to make them read American
newspapers that are unbiased. '
Mr. Dekom. Could they be persuaded of their own volition to read
them if they could speak and read English well? Or well enough?
Dr. Draskovich. I wonder. I say that because some of the stanch-
est Communists — Mary Sumrak, editor of the Narodni Glasnik, a£
well as Stanko Vuich and Drago Kosic, editors of the Slobodna Rec—
are all American-born, and they speak English better than they do
Serbian or Croatian.
Mr. Dekom. Dr. Draskovich, I notice in your report a considerable
amount of information concerning involvement of the official Yugo-
slav family in the United States in these Communist activities. li
mean, of course, the Yugoslav Embassy staff and the Yugoslav dele-
gations to the United Nations.
I wonder if you would summarize your testimony there by givino
us illustrative material or examples which you might consider advis-
able at this time ?
Dr. Draskovich. I think that the material which can be founo
on representatives of Yugoslavia in the United States proves that;
those people who came here as official representatives and, of course
were supposed not to meddle in internal politics or make Communist
propaganda, did not respect that rule. They have taken part in manj
meetings.
Mr. Dekom. What sort of meetings?
Dr. Draskovich. All of them were organized by Communist or-i
ganizations, so the meetings were by that fact alone communistic!
too. I mean, for instance, meetings organized by the Slobodna Rec
or the Croatian American Council, or the Serbian Progressive move-
ment. So that all the organizers, whether local clubs or chapters or
national organizations, are Communists. We do not have in al,
oases the texts of their speeches, but on some occasions the texts art!
published, and they definitely transgress the limits of a greeting of 8
foreign representative. They present direct help to Communis!
propaganda in this country.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 617
For instance, there is an interesting account in the Slobodna Rec of
the entire United States tour of Dimitar Vhihov, who is vice president
of the Presidium of the Federated People of Yugoslavia which cor-
responds roughly to a position of the Vice President of the United
^^Mr^DEKOM. Is it not a fact that Dimitar Vlahov is one of the oldest
of the South Slav revolutionaries?
Dr. Draskovich. Most definitely so. „,-r^^, i ^.
Mr. Dekom. Did he not organize the IMRO ' revolutionary
^'dT Draskovich. That is correct. His revolutionary activities
started when he was a student, and they say that from his earliest age,
he was a very strong advocate of revolutionary methods, hrst m iur-
kev and later on in Yugoslavia and in the Balkans m general.
Mr. Dekom. Did he not establish a revolutionary newspaper m
Austria? , n , • tt-
Dr. Draskovich. He had several of them m Vienna.
Mr. Dekom. To your knowledge, did Dimitar Vlahov collect funds
for transmission to Yugoslavia in his tour? , ^ ,. ,
Dr. Draskovich. Yes, definitely. That can be f ound m my pi;epai;ed
statement. I think they collected on one occasion $7,000. Ihe blo-
bodna Rec of December 31, 1946, No. 188, page 4, publishes an account
of Vlahov's visit to Detroit. It is stated :
At the banquet, $14,000 was collected for a hospital in Skoplje * * * This
sum was the beginning of the campaign to collect $250,000.
Mr. Schroeder. Where was that banquet held, Doctor? ,
Dr. Draskovich. In Detroit, Mich., at the Hotel Book-Cadillac in
the Crystal Ballroom. „ , .^ ■, t ^ ^- .
Mr. Dekom. Was Vlahov a member of the Yugoslav delegation to
the United Nations ?
Dr. Draskovich. Vlahov was in the United Nations.
Mr. Schroeder. Doctor, do you know whether he ever attended any
affairs at the Yugoslav Dom ^ in New York City?
Dr. Draskovich. I would not know that.
Mr. Dekom. Is it customary for Yugoslav officials to appear there ?
Dr. Draskovich. I notice that the consul, Miodrag Markovich, is a
regular visitor. He used to go there very often. I do not know how it
is at the moment, but definitely, before the break with the Cominf orm
and even later, he was a regular guest at the American Yugoslav
Home.2
Mr. Dekom. TVHiat is the American Yugoslav Home ^
Dr. DRASK0viCH.lt is the mainx^enter of Communist activities
among the American Yugoslavs in this country.
Mr. Schroeder. Do you know any of the officials of the Yugoslav
Home? ^ , .
Dr. Draskovich. People connected with it are Toma Babm— and
evidence can also be found in the Slobodna Rec to that effect— who js
certainly one of the most active Communists of Yugoslav origin in
this country. He openly stated at one occasion— it is in my ]:»repared
statement— that the Yugoslav Seaman's Club, of which he is the presi-
1 IMRO — Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization.
2 The Yugoslovenslsi-Amerieki Dom (Yugoslav-American Home).
618 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
dent, was the center of progressive activity in this country and that
people were educated and schooled for later activities, that is, revolu-
tionary activities, in Yugoslavia. He said that many people who
were members of the seaman's club and who went through its courses,
now occupy positions of responsibility in Yugoslavia.
Mr. Dekom. That is the Yugoslav Seamen's Club in New York
City?
Dr. Draskovich. That is right.
Mr. Dekom. Again, when the term "progressive" is used there, it
actually means "Communist" does it not ?
Dr. Draskovich. Definitely.
Mr. Dekom. Do you know of Mirko Markovic?
Dr. Draskovich. Yes; very well. For a while he was editor of the
Slobodna Rec, and he published a very interesting pamphlet in Bel-
grade in 1946, when he returned to Yugoslavia, entitled "The Struggle
in Am.erica for the New Yugoslavia." I think that document is very
interesting. I used all of the material I could in my prepared state-
ment. From what can be seen in this material, according to him, the
American Yugoslavs, more particularly the Croats, played a role of
the first importance in bringing about the American Slav Congress.
He says that the fate of the American Slav Congress depended on the
American Yugoslavs, because they were the most dynamic group.
Consequently, the merit of creating the American Slav Congress rests
on the American Yugoslavs, especially the Narodni Glasnik. He notes,
obviously with regret, that the Narodni Glasnik did more for the
Communist cause than did his own paper, the Slobodna Rec.
The so-called Yugoslav revolutionary workers' movement centered
around the Narodni Glasnik.
Mr. Dekom. You say he returned to Yugoslavia. Do you mean that
he returned permanently to Yugoslavia after staying here some years,
after serving as an editor of a Yugoslav Communist paper in Pitts-
burgh ?
Dr. Draskovich. That is correct.
Mr. Dekom. That is the Slobodna Rec?
Dr. Draskovich. Yes, sir.
Mr. Dekom. Do you know what position he received when he went
back?
Dr. Draskovich. Shortly after returning, he became professor of
economics at the University of Belgrade.
Mr. Dekom. What educational qualifications did he have to occupy
such a position?
Dr. Draskovich. I think membership in the Communist Party and
his Communist activities in the United States among the American
Yugoslavs.
Mr. Dekom. To your knowledge, what are his educational achieve-
ments ?
Dr. Draskovich. I think he graduated from high school.
Mr. Dekom. Is it customary. Doctor, from your personal knowl-
edge as a former professor of economics at Belgrade University, for its
professors merely to have a high-school education ?
Dr. Draskovich. No. It was an indispensable condition that who-
ever applied for the position of a professor must be a doctor of science
in the field in which he wants to teach.
Mr. Dekom. It was changed by the Communists?
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 619
Dr. Drasko\t:ch. It certainly was. The rule has been abolished.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Doctor, do you know how long he resided in the
United States?
Dr. Draskovich. I think about 7 or 8 years, but I would not be
sure. If I may add one more comment. After the Cominform-Tito
rift, he sided with the Cominform.
Mr. Dekom. And as a result he went to jail?
Dr. Draskovich. That is right.
Mr. Dekom. You mentioned the name of Srcljan Prica, as a Yugo-
slav official in this country. Can you tell us something about his prior
record ?
Dr. Draskovich. Srdjan Prica was, at one time, editor of the Slo-
bodna Rec. As I have quoted in my prepared statement, Nikola
Drenovac, who was the fourth editor of the Slobodna Pec, before re-
turning to Yugoslavia, spoke at a farewell banquet expressing the
highest respect and appreciation for the work of Srdjan Prica, which,
as he says, laid down the pattern for his work.
Mr. Dekom. In other words, Dr. Draskovich, at least three editors,
recent editors of the Slobodna Rec, have returned to Yugoslavia to
participate in the activities of the Communist government there?
Dr. Draskovich. That is correct.
Mr. Dekom. Would they be acceptable to that government if they
themselves had not been Communists or had not been active in pro-
moting the Communist cause?
Dr. Draskovich. I do not think so. I think that they are in these
positions because they worked for the Communist cause in the United
States.
Mr. Dekom. Would the knowledge of that fact be indicative of the
philosophy which governs the Slobodna Rec, that its former editors
have all been highly rewarded by a notorious Communist government ?
Dr. Draskovich. I think so. I think it is a very good indication of
how things really stand.
Mr. Dekom. That fact, together with the analysis of the material
contained in these newspapers which you have made, leads you to the
conclusion that these newspapers are Communist newspapers?
Dr. Draskovich. I think no other conclusion is' possible.
Mr. Dekom. And that the people who are the guiding forces and
run them must of necessitv also be Communists ; is that your conclusion
also?
Dr. Draskovich. That is right.
Mr. Schroeder. And on their return to their native land they are
rewarded with high positions for spreading communism while they
were residing in the United States?
Dr. Draskovich. That is the case.
In an issue of the Slobodna Rec it is openly said that "Drenovac, the
fourth editor, is returning to Yugoslavia in the same way as his pre-
decessors, to continue the work for the progressive cause, or for the
cause of tlie people," as he was doing in this country.
Mr. DEK0]\t. I notice in your discussion here, Dr. Draskovich, that
you make reference on a number of occasions to Maj. Branko Vukelic,
who was at one time connected with the Yugoslav Embassy in the
United States and who was extremely active in participating in the
activities of the Yugoslav Communist fronts. Can you tell us any-
thing about the present condition of Maj. Branko Vukelic?
620 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Dr. Draskovich. Major Viikelic is one of the most interesting cases.
Major Vukelic was certainly one of the most active propagandists
among the Yugoslav officials coming to the United States. I have
here a quotation from the Slobodna Kec of December 4, 1946, page 2,
wherein, speaking of the new regime in Yugoslavia, he goes so far as
to defend in the most categorical terms, the ill-famed Yugoslav secret
police, OZNA, which other people usually avoid speaking about. It is
stated :
Finally, Vukelic praised the secret police, "OZNA," as being the people itself.
"The Communists * * * gave the power to the peasants and workers in
Yugoslavia, and they will see to it that nobody will ever be able to take the
power from the hands of the people."
Major Vukelic sided with the Cominform, so now he is in the Ininds
of that very OZNA he had praised as being the people themselves.
Another interesting thing in connection with Vukelic is that recently
in the Slobodna Rec of May 14, 1949, page 3, a letter was ptiblished
by officials of the Serbian Progressive Club, "Karageorge," in Gary,
Ind. (not to be confused with the thoroughly democratic singing and
choir society "Karageorge" from Gary, Ind.), addressed to Dr. Ivan
Ribar, chairman of the Presidium of the People's Assembly of F. P. R.
of Yugoslavia, in which these people requested Dr. Ribar to use his
influence to have Branko Vukelic released. What is most interesting,
after 3 years, they now themselves admit and describe openly what
Vukelic was doing in this country. I would like to read these passages :
* * * For your government's and your information, we take the liberty
of telling you this about the activities wliich Branko Vukelic carried out among
tlie Yugoslavia immigrants in America and Canada.
Before Branko's —
They use just the first name —
arrival in our midst at the beginning of 1946, all of us had rather poor in-
formation about your heroic and superhuman struggle against the invader and
domestic traitors, because among us worked the anti-people's Yugoslav press
which was under the influence of the exiled government in London.
With the arrival of Vukelic, the situation changed completely. His- fiery
speeches at conventions and other meetings exerted so much influence upon the
people, that the anti-people's press was obliged to apologize to the public
Branko Vukelic succeeded, during his brief stay in our midst, to make our
immigrants acquainted with the hardship and suffering of our people in the old
country during the struggle for national liberation. It is just on account of
the fact that Branko knew how to present to our immigrants, the real picture
of the struggle and suffering of our people, that our people here started to give
and send help to their people with both hands.
Second, Branko, with his energetic work has done more for making your
national leadership popular, your national leadership and the great struggle
of the people for Socialist ideas, than any one of your representatives in
America or Canada. * * *
Dr. Dp:kom. This same man was an attache at the Yugoslav Em-
bassy in Washington while he was carrying out such Communist
propaganda work ?
Dr. Draskovich. They gave him various titles, that is right.
Mr. Dekom. But he w\as an official of the Yugoslav Government,
assigned to the Washington Embassy?
Dr. Draskovich. Definitely.
Mr. ScHROEDER. Dr. Draskovich, you have heard a lot about Com-
munist assertions that they could bring about world communism
without bloodshed, have you not ? i
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 621
Dr. Draskovich. Yes.
Mr. ScHKOEDER. What is your answer to that claim ?
Dr. Draskovich. My answer is that it is entirely wrong. I think
it takes typical Communist impudence to deny that. From Marx on
lip to the present time their thesis was always the forcible overthrow
of the capitalistic society.
Mr. Dekom. Dr. Draskovich, have you any specific examples on that
subject which you care to point out to the subcommittee?
Dr. Draskovich. I think I have here a few examples which might
be interesting, with regard to that question — the forcible overthrow
of government.
In the Communist Manifesto of Karl Marx and Frederic Engels,
published in Moscow in 1848, it is said :
The proletariat, the lowest stratum of one present society, cannot stir, cannot
raise itself up, without the whole superincumbent strata of official society being
sprung into the air.
Even more outspoken is the following sentence :
In depicting the most general phases of the development of the proletariat, we
traced the more or less veiled civil war, raging within existing society, up to
the point where that war breaks out into open revolution, and where the violent
overthrow of the bourgeoisie lays the foundation for the sway of the proletariat.
Then I w^ould like to quote from the History of the All-Union Com-
munist (Bolshevik) Party, abbreviated edition, Serbian text, Moscow,
1938. They say:
Marx and Engels taught that it is impossible in a peaceful way to break the
power of capital and transform capitalist ownership in social ownership. That
the working class can achieve that only through revolutionary violence against
the bourgeoisie, through a proletarian revolution by creating its own political
rule — the dictatorship of, the proletariat — which has to stifle the resistance of
the exploiters and create a new, classless Communist society.
Then the conclusion of that history is summed up in a few points,
and in the first of these points we can read the following :
The history of the party teaches us, first of all, that the victory of the prole-
tarian revolution, the victory of the dictatorship of the proletariat, is impossible
without a revolutionary proletarian party * * * revolutionary with regard
to the bourgeoisie and its government.
I think that this point is important because the Communists claim
that the correct interpretation of world revolution is social change.
I think this clearly refutes that contention. They are not speaking
only of the bourgeoisie but its government ; so revolution with regard
to that government definitely imj^lies force.
Then, as a last quotation, I would like to quote the famous Stalin
letter to Comrade Ivanov, which was written in 1938, in answer to a
question by Comrade Ivanov asking whether socialism is possible in
one country or not. Here is the answer of Stalin, who quotes Lenin :
* * * the existence of the Soviet Republic next to a number of imperialist
states for a long time is unthinkable. In the end either the one or the other
will have the better of it. Until that end comes a series of most terrible conflicts
between the Soviet Republic and the bourgeois states is inevitable. This means
that the ruling class— the proletariat — if it wants to and will rule, must prove
this also by its military organization.
And, finally, a little further on, he says :
The second problem * * * the problem of the complete security of our
country from the dangers of military intervention and restoration * * *
622 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
cannot be solved * * * by the unaided efforts of our country alone. The
second problem can be solved only by combining a serious effort of the interna-
tional proletariat with a still more serious effort of the whole of our Soviet people.
There are also— cand, unfortunately, I do not have them here — some
very interesting passages in Stalin's Foundations of Leninism, where
he also stresses that the bourgeois government must be overthrown by
violence. So I think there is not a shadow of doubt that the Com-
munist theory is not a theory of a peaceful development, but a theory
of the forcible overthrow of the so-called capitalistic government and
order in any country, including the United States.
Mr. Dekom. What has been the actual practice in countries where
communism has been established ? How has that theory been applied ?
Dr. Draskovich. There have been some deviations from that rule,
but not because the Communists changed their ideas. It was because
their policy of anti-Fascist people's fronts was so successful that they
actually succeeded in harnessing many non-Communists to the cart of
the Communist Party. In that way they broke the resistance of the
non-Communists to such an extent that they did not need to use full-
scale violence to establish their domination. Thus, if the free countries
would not strike back at their attempts to dominate the whole world
by the Trojan-horse tactics, then they would not need to use much force
and violence to establish their dictatorship, but only to consolidate it.
I would like at this point to quote Stalin and Lenin (from Stalin's
Foundations of Leninism) :
"The dictatorship of the proletariat," says Lenin, "is a persistent struggle,
sanguinary and bloodless, violent and peaceful, military and economic, educa-
tional and administrative, against the forces and traditions of the old society."
And Stalin says : "The [Communist] Party is not only the highest form of class
association of the proletarians, it is at the same time an instrument in the hands
of the proletariat for achieving the dictatorship where that has not yet been
achieved and for consolidating and expanding tlie dictatorship where it has
already been achieved" (French edition. Edicions Sociales, Paris, 1945, p. 83).
Mr. Dekom. Have the Communists used force and violence when
other means were not successful ?
Dr. Draskovich. Definitely. Even at this moment, when the Com-
munists in America are doing their best to prove that the new road to
socialism is a peaceful one, Foster openly declares that in the case that
if the new Trojan-horse tactics cannot be applied successfully, then
they must resort to an "offensive policy."
In the Daily Worker, too, they say, "We do not intend necessarily to
use violence," which means that they will or will not use violence,
according to their opportunities of breaking the capitalistic order.
Mr. Dekom. Can you cite some cases in which force and violence
have been used ?
Dr. Draskovich. The first case is Soviet Kussia, then Hun<rary
(1919), Poland (1920), Yugoslavia (1920 and 1921), where the Com-
munists carried out several attempts against the highest state officials,
prepared with the greatest care plans for an armed uprising. Today,
China is a typical example of the struggle of a politico-military or-
ganization (as stressed in the famous Si-alin letter to Comrade Iva-
nov) against the government.
In Burma, and many other countries of the Far East, all the imrest
and trouble is caused by the Communists, who are trying to change
the social and political order by the use of violence.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IX ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 623
Mr. Dekom. Would you describe the means used to rise to power,
let us say, in a country like Yugoslavia?
Dr. Draskovich. There is an open admission by William Foster
that in all the countries behind the iron curtain the tactics of the
people's fronts were so successful that there was no need to resort to
much violence, and he says that tends to prove that socialism can be
achieved without violence.
Mr. Dekom. Were there no instances of force and violence in these
iron curtain countries?
Dr. Draskovich. There are many instances — not in coming to
Ijower — but once they seize powder. Then they use ruthless oppression
on anyone who does not agree with them. They use many non-Com-
munists to come to power in a peaceful way and then they are liqui-
dated one by one, so that only the Communists are left.
Mr. Dekom. So the result is that they use force and violence against
the people of the country in order to prevent them from protecting or
reestablishing their democratic institutions?
Dr. DRASK0^^CH. That is correct. If they can come to power with-
out violence, they use violence anyway after coming into power.
Mr. Dekom. How would you describe the tactics used in Czecho-
slovakia where organized armed units seized power ?
Dr. Draskovich. The case of Czechoslovakia is a striking example
of what happens when the non-Communist elements, harnessed by the
Communists to serve in establishing the dictatorship of the proleta-
riat, try to prevent the unnatural partnership from taking its inevita-
ble course. The Czech non-Communists wanted the coalition to remain
a coalition of equals ; the Communists wanted to use it as a means by
which to achieve their goal. And since coalitions of non-Communists
with Communists have always put the Communists in a strong posi-
tion, because there can be no middle road between defending one's
country and ruining it, the Communists did not have a very hard job
to consolidate their dominant position. As can be seen from the quo-
tations from Stalin and Lenin and as William Foster admits, the use
of violence is just a matter of expedience for Communists, since com-
munism in its essence implies the use of ruthless violence before the
Socialist revolution, as well as after it. In the Czech case, the Com-
munists used just as much force as they needed to achieve their goal :
The establishment of a complete Communist dictatorship in that
country.
Mr. ScHROEDER. And the control of the economic system ?
Dr. Draskovich. Definitely, of the w^hole life — economic system,
and the political, social, and cultural Jife of the country in which they
are in power.
In the case of Czechoslovakia there is proof that they will never
hesitate to use force when they need it. When they thought that their
grip over Czechoslovakia w^as not tight enough, they tightened it and
there was no bloodshed, because the people were already deprived of
their rights and freedom. But definitely, the consolidation of the
Communist power was carried through by force.
Mr. Dekom. Then you mean to say that they were so completely
organized that by the seizure of a few strategic positions by means of
armed groups or armed force, they were actually able to take control
of the entire state without resistance ?
624 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Dr. Draskovich. Definitely. I think that is a good example of the
application of Lenin's ideas, \Yho, as is well known, studied Clause-
witz ^ very thoroughly, and thought the struggle for the seizure of
power is just a military struggle and must be carried out by following
all the rules of warfare.
Mr. Dekom. Was not the same thing substantially true in Yugo-
slavia, where organized Communist units simply took over, because
they themselves were armed and organized and the opposition was not?
So that, although there was no serious violence or opposition at the
time, many of the governmental units fell by actual force or by threat
of force ?
Dr. Draskovich. Yugoslavia is a somewhat special case. During
the war two guerrilla movements were organized : The national move-
ment of Gen. Draza Mihailovicii and the Communist guerrilla move-
ment of Tito. The first had the support of the great majority of the
people. And, had the people in Yugoslavia been in a position to decide
for themselves, the Communists would never have seized power in
Yugoslavia. But, as Foster proudly explains in his Twilight of World
Capitalism, and more particularly in the Defense of the Indicted
Leaders, the Communist policy of anti-Fascist cooperation with the
democratic forces, both in matters of domestic and of international
politics, triumphed in the creation of "people's democracies" — that is
Communist-dominated regimes — in a number of European countries.
As for Yugoslavia, the official Allied policy was to help Tito, not
Mihailovich. So the Eed Army, which was supposedly coming as an
Allied force to liberate Yugoslavia from the Nazis, was, in fact, occupy-
ing Yugoslavia and imposing communism upon her. The Yugoslav
Communists followed in the wake of the Red Army.
Mr. ScHROEDER. There w\as a demonstration of might in the country
when the Communists took over?
Dr. Draskovich. More than that; there was use of violence and
force wdierever they went. The Communists just used that situation
to install themselves in power.
Mr. Dekom. So that actually, in all these cases, they did use force
and violence to come to power, but only in smaller degrees, to a large
extent because of the success of the Communist-sponsored united
front movement ?
Dr. Draskovich. They never hesitated to use force, but the success
of the anti-Fascist people's fronts just made it easier for them to
seize power. It is not only the question of seizure of power. It is
the question of exerting power. As I said, the use of violence is a
constant principle of Communist rule. So they us' it to seize power
and they use it to govern the country.
Mr. Dekom. Dr. Draskovich, if there is any additional material
which you care to submit, with the permission of the chairman, we
will accept it from you before these hearings are published.
Dr. Draskovich. Yes, sir.
Mr. Dekom. Now, Dr. Draskovich, I will ask you to proceed with
the presentation of your statement.
Dr. Draskovich. This is a study of the activities of the self-styled
"progressive" organizations— that is, of course. Communist organ-
Geneial Karl von Clausewitz, noted German military tactician (1780-1831).
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 625
izations— of Serbian and Croatian origin, as recorded in the pages of
the two Communist newspapers, Slobodna Rec (Free Expression)
in Serbian and Narodni Glasnik (People's Choice) in Croatian.
The material which I am going to present to the subcommittee is
classified as follows :
I. The general character of the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik.
II. The stand of the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik on prob-
lems of American foreign and domestic policy.
A. Foreign policy.
B. Democracy in the United States and the domestic policy of
the United States Government.
III. The stand of the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik on Yugo-
slavia (before the Cominform-Tito clash).
IV. The stand of the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik on the
Cominform-Tito clash.
V. The stand of the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik on Yugo-
slavia (after the Cominform-Tito clash).
VI. The stand of the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik on the
Soviet Union.
VII. Identity of "progressive" views on other issues.
VIII. The appeal to Slavic solidarity, the American-Slav Con-
gress and so forth.
IX. Tlie Yugoslav "progress?! ve" press and tl^e activities of various
rej^resentatives of the F. P. R. Yugoslavia in the United States.
X. Conclusion.
The analysis of the newspapers Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik
and people and organizations connected and affiliated with them, leads
to the definite conclusion that we are dealing with Communist news-
papers and Communist activities. If we use the term "progressive"
throughout this study, it is obviously not because these two newspapers
and activities of various organizations recorded in them bear the
distinctive marks of activities inspired by faith in human progress
and striving for the improvement of the condition of man, but for
other reasons. First, we do not want to anticipate the conclusion
reached by the study. Besides, that is the term which they themselves
use in most cases to describe their own activities. Finally, it seems to
us that it is necessary today to reveal at least the most important abuses
of democratic terminology by the Communists. That is certainly the
case with the term "progressive," which is very often applied to cover
activities of a distinct Communist character. That is also the reason
why the term has been used in quoties.
The number of "progressives" among Americans of Serbian and
Croatian origin has not been statistically established. There are, nev-
ertheless, facts which make an accurate estimate possible.
At the seventh convention of the Croatian Fraternal Union, the
largest organization of American Croats, held in Pittsburgh in Sep-
tember 1947, the "progressives" were successful in electing their own
candidates to the executive and other boards. The average number of
votes for "progressive" candidates was 175, or 59 percent, and the
average number of votes for "nonprogressive" candidates was 123, or
41 percent.
626 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
As for the American Serbs, the percentage of "progressives'" among
them is very probably the lowest of all Slavic groups in the United
States. If we apply the same yardstick as for the American Croats,
the result is that the percentage of ''nonprogressives" is over 96 per-
cent and of "progressives*' under 4 percent, since at the convention of
the Serb National Federation, the largest organization of American
Serbs, there were 4 "progressive" delegates and 106 "nonprogressives."
The percentage of "progressives" is even smaller if one considers that
the number of 110 delegates does not include the 17 members of the
executive board, all of whom were "nonprogressives."
The above figures are subject to some modifications in view of the
fact that the American Serbs and Croats have other organizations
beside the largest ones. Still, when all of them are taken into con-
sideration, as well as those who do not belong to any organization,
the above percentages should not suffer any substantial change.
Thus "progressive" American Serbs and Croats are by no means typ-
ical American Serbs or Croats, but typical "progressives." And this
study is no comprehensive study of American Serbs or Croats but a
study of one particular sector of the Communist movement in the
United States. It is the sector of "progressive" Serbs and Croats who,
like the rest of them, belonging to all national groups in America, or
regardless of national groups, are using the cover of "progressiveness"
in order to work more effectively for the realization of Communist
aims, which is the forcible overthrow of the democratic Government in
this country.
I. THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE SLOEODXA REC AND NARODNI GLASNIK
The newspapers Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik hold a great
place and play an essential role in the life and activities of progressive
Americans of Serbian and Croatian origin.
They are not only the main source of information on daily events
and all current problems for their readers but rallying points for all
their activities. They not only are instrumental in shaping their
thinking, but their whole life as "progressive" Serbians or Croatian? is
made possible through the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik. In
these newspapers every single activity of various organizations —
Serbian Progressive Movement ; Congress of American-Croatian Men
and Women; Serbian- American Federation of the International
Workers Order; Progressive Youth and local clubs; the American
Association for Reconstruction in Yugoslavia, and so forth — is re-
ported, instructions given, announcements made, appeals addressed,
and campaigns launched, celebrations, banquets, and conventions an-
nounced and reported, private letters published, private views ex-
pressed— always, of course, strictly within the limits of the official
line indicated by the paper's policy — enemies assailed and slandered,
people incited and directed to political, social, sports, humane, and
other action.
In other words these two newspapers are links which hold "progres-
sive" American Serbs and Croatians together, and to the extent these
groups are playing a certain role among the "progressives" of the
United States, that can mainly, if not exclusively, be ascribed to the
educational-political work of the Slobodna Rec and Nai'odni Glasnik
It is thus hardly possible to find a better source of information
about American "progressives" of Serbian and Croatian origin than
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 627
their respective newspapers. The identity of the stand, policy, and
propaganda of the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik make advisable
one study instead of two, since separate studies would necessarily
involve much repetition.
The task of establishing the place of the Slobodna Rec and Narodni
Glasnik and the role which they have played and still are playing
among "progressive" Americans of Serbian and Croatian origin is
facilitated by the editors of these newspapers themselves, who are
explicit enough on the matter. There is, for example, the statement
concerning the Slobodna Rec, which was published in its issue of
October 4, 1947, i)ages 2 and 3, emanating from Nikola
Drenovac, who was chairman of the Serbian Progressive Movement
and chief editor of the Slobodna Rec. Drenovac made his report at
the conference of the Serbian Progressive Movement at Akron, Ohio,
before returning to Yugoslavia. It is worth while quoting the greatest
part of his report, which represents a summary of the work of the
Slobodna Rec :
From March 1942, when I publicly joined the ranks of the Serbian Progressive
Movement, until the present date, many important things happened, many im-
portant changes took place, and many attempts to widen our ranks were under-
taken. Although all this was connected with many difficulties, although it
required much toil and much patience, I still must say that when I came the
path was already laid — laid by my predecessors, people experienced and hardened
in struggle.
I feel that I would be failing to do a special duty if I did not stress the impor-
tant role which people like Mirko Markovich, Srdja Prica, and Stevan Dedijer
have played. They are people of whom I know that they were the leaders of
the Serbian Progressive Movement among the American Serbs and the editors
of the Slobodna Rec at a time when it was most difficult to edit and publish
a progressive Serbian newspaper.
After paying tribute to Zarko Bunchich, Nikola Kovachevich-Stari,
and Joso Rajnovich, Drenovac goes on to say :
The Serbian Progressive Movement, as the basis and foundation of all other
activities and undertakings of the democratic Serbs of America, worked from
its very foundation, first on the education of the broad masses of American Serbs
and then as a part of the democratic forces of America, carried on a struggle
on a wider platform against reaction and fascism in general. * * *
This means that the movement of tlie Sloboilna Rec has a role of the greatest
importance and greatest merit for everything that has been achieved until today
in the educational-political field among American Serbs.
The American democratic Serbs would not. dare appear before the face of other
Slav national groups if they had not behind them their honorable and militant
12-year history. How would we pay tribute to the known and unknown workers'
fighters among the American Serbs who laid the foundations of the Serbian Pro-
gressive Movement and the Slobodna Rec if we would say, "We started 12 days
ago and not 12 years ago"? If we would-, say so and if it were so, we would
picture ourselves as the most backward national group; we would nullify every-
thing that the Serbian Progressive Movement has done for the cause of Ameri-
can democracy, for the cause of south Slav brotherhood and unity, and for the
cause of spreading the truth about the people's liberation struggle in Yugoslavia,
and tor the cause of progress in general.
The Slobodna Rec has patiently, persistently, and according to a plan pointed
out to the American Serbs what is good and what is bad ; where the truth lies,
where falsehood; on which side the light is; on which darkness; and that the
educational and political work of the Slobodna Rec was and is the prior condi-
tion for any other achievement in the humane, educational, or political field
among the American Serbs.
While it insisted that the truth about Yugoslavia should penetrate as deeply
as possible into the American people, the Slobodna Rec played one of the most
important roles in the creation of the United Committee of South Slavic Amer-
628 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
icans. It also did not lag behind in the work of consolidating the American
Slav Congress. From its start, the Slobodna Rec was and remained a part of
the progressive forces of the American Slavs in general, playing in its own na-
tional sector the role of teacher, educator, and uncompromising fighter against
reaction and fascism.
Drenovac admitted that errors had been made and that "not all of us
are good at practial work among the masses of the people," so he
urged the audience to more active work by stressing, in the same way
as Communists ceaselessly do, that —
Although the united allied forces have smashed fascism militarily, fa.'^cisra
is, nevertheless, politically alive and very, very active.
One of the main tasks of the Serbian Progressive Movement is the organiza-
tion and constant struggle against * * * Serbian fascism.
While we are fighting against fascism in our own Serbian national field here
in America, we at the same time are fighting against world fascism, which is
raising its head considerably owing mainly to the so-called Truman doctrine
and the oflBcial policy of Washington here and abroad.
The trend of such a Washington policy has given courage to Fascist elements
all over the world and has given them hope for the revival of all that has been
defeated in this war by common allied forces. * * *
Tlie Serbian Progressive Movement in America has thus today an even harder
task than it had during the recent war. It must today defend the cause of
democracy which has been indicted in this country and to fight all the elements
to which the American oflScial policy is favorable and profitable and which ele-
ments are helped by the American capitalists and great monopolistic capital.
* * *
The Serbian Progressive Movement and the Slobodna Rec are going ahead
with their work and program at a time of limitless intimidation with the ' Red
bogey," at a time of liysterical outbursts against genuine democratic forces
and at a time of pei'secution of all elements which are following the political
line of the great President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The Slobodna Rec, to-
gether with the American people, is fighting against all those who want to pro-
voke a new world bloodshed. * * *
We shall be defending freedom if we help with all our forces the struggle of
American people against the various Hoovers, Rankins, Tafts, and other repre-
sentatives of American reaction.
We shall be defending freedom if we stand against all attempts of rebuilding
the German war industry and strengthening of all those currents which are
sowing hatred among nations.
We shall be defending freedom if all of us resolutely and courageously oppose
any forcible intervention and unauthorized interference in the matters and prob-
lems of other states.
After pleading for aid to war orphans in Yugoslavia, Drenovac,
following faithfully the line of Communist tactics, says that —
On such a program ought to unite all Amei-ican Serbs. On such a program
ought to unite even people of divergent political ideas.
After announcing his resignation as chairman of the Serbian Pro-
gressive Movement and as chief editor of the Serbian democratic news-
paper, the Slobodna Eec, Drenovac declared that all that he did in
these capacities he did "sincerely, enthusiastically, and with the best
intentions, having at heart always the unity and solidarity of all anti-
Fascist forces."
And Drenovac, who in this whole indicative speech never thought
of mentioning the good of America and the unity of all Americans,
did not fail to conclude his speech by declaring that the "salvation of
all of us, of all the Slavs, was in unity.'*
And, as if Drenovac was not explicit enough, his successor, the new
editor of Slobodna Rec, Stanko Vuich, paid him special tribute for
doing his utmost "for the awakening of consciousness and education
among American Serbs" — Slobodna Rec, October 8, 1947, page 3.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 629
As regards the Narodni Glasnik, one of the most outspoken state-
ments of its policies was made by its editor, "Sister" Mary Sumrak,
in her report at the national conference of the Narodni Glasnik in
Cleveland, Ohio, which was published in the issue of December 1, 1948,
under the title "Plan for the 3-Month Campaign of the Narod-
ni Ghisnik." After stating that the main source of trouble in all the
world is the United States, that this country is on the way to becoming
a Fascist country, and that American people do not want war but
peace, Mary Sumrak speaks at length of the past, present, and future
role of the Narodni Glasnik in the people's struggle for the new type
of democracy :
One could hardly think of any activity, any movement for progress, democ-
racy, or any action for the welfare of the people, to which our newspaper did not
contribute its own part by educating and organizing our people. * * *
Through a daily newspaper we were able to influence much stronger the
development of our social life; we were able to fight more easily our enemies
and the agents of reaction among our people ; we were able to contribute more
to the war efforts to defeat the Fascist Axis, to help the struggle for liberation
of our people in the old country, and later to help the people themselves and
the young Federative People's Republic of Yugoslavia for the reconstruction of
the country and the creation of a better life for its people.
Through a daily newspaper it was much easier to work for the launching of
our mass movements — Council of American Croatians, Federation of Croatian-
American Women, the Slav Congress, various committees for relief and recon-
struction in Yugoslavia, for the strengthening of progressive forces in the
Croatian Fraternal Union, for its progress and the progressive line, and the
final removal of the people's enemies who were hampering its progress and trying
to bring it into the antipeople's front — into the front of fascism and reaction.
The merits of the Narodni Glasnik in that field were and are acknowledged on
the part of our allies and collaborators, as well as representatives of other
groups. This is especially felt and seen in the American Slav Congress, where
the Croatians have always been and are today the strongest group and the
greatest support and help to the work of the congress.
The Croatian Benevolent Fraternity, which is, by its membership, the second
largest Croatian organization in this country, and by its work the most pro-
gressive of our organizations, has also to thank the Narodni Glasnik for its
development and growth and for the influence it is exerting among our people.
As a paper which they read, the Narodni Glasnik helps rally almost all our
progressive people and women in the ranks of the Croatian Benevolent Fraternity.
These are men and women which our movement and our action helped educate
in a worker's and a progressive spirit. * * *
In the present situation, the Narodni Glasnik has an even greater duty and even
greater tasks. The black forces of reaction are trying to drag the world into
another war. The war propaganda is going full blast. The trade-unions are in
danger; the freedom and fundamental rights of American people are in danger;
in danger is the peace of the world. * * *
The Narcdni Glasnik is today more necessary than ever before * * * be-
cause the black forces of reaction have again started to rise. * « * We
shall need it in the future to rally our people around the great movement under
the leadership of the Progressive Party for the realization of yet unattained
ends. * * *
* * * We must do everything to help the Narodni Glasnik remain a daily
newspaper, to be in the future our teacher, organizer, and leader.
The above two statements, although outspoken and detailed enough,
are even more significant if sonie other documents pertaining to
"progressive" education and consciousness, as well as the role of the
^'progressive" Slavic press, are taken in consideration. These docu-
ments are not arbitrarily chosen. Mirko Markovich, former editor
of the Slobodna Rec (from 1946 to 1948, then professor of economics
at the University of Belgrade, and, since the Cominform-Tito conflict,
in jail as an adherent of the Moscow line) , says in a pamphlet published
QSa.^O— 50— pt. 2 12
630 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
in Beli^rade in 1946 (The Striio;fr]e in America for a new Yug^oslavia)
that the American Yugoslavs are "the hackbone of the American Slav
Congress." According to Markovich:
The Yugoslav workers movement in America grew and developed as an organic
part of the general workers' movement of the United States (p. 24).
After the October revolution fin Russia, 1917] among the Yugoslavs in America
there shaped itself the organized worker's revolutionary movement around the
newspaper Radnik [former name of the Narodni Glasnik], which was appearing
in Croatian language in Chicago (p. 24).
Markovich gives them credit for their achievements, but criticizes
their —
lack of understanding of the national feelings of those masses which are the
result of the lack of understanding of Leninist-Stalinist views on the national
problems (p. 26).
The reversal of this situation was started in 1935 and was led by the Narodni
Glasnik and Slobodna Rec. * * * The first decisive move was the anti-Fascist
Congress of American Serbs held in 1936. * * *
On the ground of such national congresses of the Yugoslavs was created the
United Committee of South Slavic Americans, as the central leadership of a
broader anti-Fascist movement.
Markovich goes on to describe the heavy struggle of the progressive
Slavs against the "reaction" among Americans of Slavic origin, which
reached its climax toward the end of 1941 and the beginning of 1942 :
Tlie anti Fascist movement in the Slavic groups, which were largely rallied
around their progressive newspapers were persistent and unflinching in that
struggle. The Yugoslav immigrants, i. e., the anti-Fascist movement among
them, were the most active in that struggle, although they number just a little'
over 1,000,000, which is only one-third or one-fourth of some larger Slav groups.
That dynamism in the Yugoslav group indicated that whether the All-Slav Con-
gress would take place, and whether it would be successful depended entirely
on the Yugoslavs (p. 47).
The congress, where, for the first time in history, American Slavs
gathered at a common meeting, was, according to Markovich, a great
success. President Eoosevelt announced a few days before the con-
gress (held on April 28, 1942, in Detroit) that he would send his greet-
ings and a special personal representative :
The success of the congress did not consist only in the fact that for the first
time in their history many representatives of American Slavs came together.
Its success consisted of the fact that strong foundations were laid for a broad,
anti-Fascist movement among American Slavs, and that this movement mobilized
millions and millions of people in America, particularly workers, for a greater
contribution to the victory of the United Nations over the Axis (p. 49).
A few days later, many national groups held their own conventions,
among them the "progressive" Serbs with their "Seventh Vidovdan
Congress." This congress was gi-eeted by —
A. Cranston on behalf of the United States Government, a group of Yu
Cabinet members, led by S. Kosanovic, Leo Krzycki, president of the American
Slav Congress * * * the All-Slav Committee from Moscow * * * (p. 54).
With regard to the above statements, it seems quite appropriate to
quote the authoritative opinion of Bozidar Maslaric, chairman of the
All-Slav Committee, on the role assigned to the Slavic press after
World War II, i. e., after all Slavic countries became Communist-
dominated. In an interview with a correspondent of the official Tan-
jug Agencv in Belgrade on July 17, 1947, published in the Narodni
List ("The People's Journal"), Zagreb, Yugoslavia, July 18, 1947,
page 2, Maslaric, among other things, said :
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 631
One of the most important tasks of the All-Slav Committee, together with the
Slavic national committees, will also be to popularize the successes of the Slavic
peoples in the field of the construction of the new people's democracy, which is
of tremendous importance for the cause of the consolidation of general peace and
development, and furtherance of democracy in the whole world. In that respect,
a special role belongs to the democratic press, which is called upon to spread the
truth abont the efforts of the Slavic peoples and about the postwar political,
economic, and cultural development of the Slavic republics, as well as to unmask
all those who are sowing distrust in the entire world against the peoples of the
Slavic countries, who, together with the Soviet Union, are in the front ranks of
the fighters for peace and friendship of the whole world. The All-Slav Commit-
tee * * * will * * * help people who work for the press to present the
modern problems and the ideological essence of the new Slavic movement.
As for the correct interpretation of the term "education," Mirko
Markovich may again be of great help. In his pamphlet, The Strug-
gle in America for a New Yugoslavia, he states that —
The Yugoslav workers' movement played a very important role in the founda-
tion and initial development of the Communist Party of the United States. So,
for instance, in the first years after its foundation, the Yugoslav workers com-
posed more than one-third of the membership of the Communist Party of the
United States of America. * * * This fact shows that our immigrants, that
is, the class-conscious part of them, not only did not lag behind other groups
of the American working class in the most decisive moments, but they often
were more advanced (p. 26).
And since the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik not only are
"worker's" newspapers, but identify themselves with "progressive"
movements of American Serbs and Croats, it seems fit to consult the
Daily Worker, quoting Lenin, Stalin, and Marx,
In an article entitled "The Weapon Lenin Gave in Struggle for
Socialism," by William Weinstone (Daily Worker, April 8, 1949,
p. 9), strong issue is taken with all tendencies of "labor reformism"
and "economism," whose main characteristic is —
"An exclusive or major preoccupation with the economic struggle, chiefly with
the trade-union struggle for wages and hours and denial of the political fight
for democratic liberties and socialism. As a consequence, economism denies
the need for a vanguard party for the working class and belittles the role of
consciousness and theory. * * *
"In rejecting economism, * * *
Weinstone continues —
Lenin did not mean that the struggle for immediate day-to-day demands must
be neglected or underestimated * * * since otherwise the workers would be
turned into broken wretches (Marx).
"However * * * to confine the struggle merely to economic reforms
would mean to perpetuate wage slavery. Therefore the fight for reforms,"
stated Lenin, "must be subordinated to the militant struggle for democracy and
socialism as the part is subordinated to the whole.
"Only if the workers * * * are imbued with class consciousness and the
ideas of socialism, only if the number and influence of the Communists grow,
can the organizations of the workers be strong and militant in their daily affairs
and develop into powerful levers for ultimate emancipation."
Weinstone, quoting Lenin, sharply assails the adherents of econ-
omism and their "reliance on spontaneity" for realizing the "ultimate
emancipation." Instead, he insists on the necessity —
to shape the thinking of the workers * * *
If the Marxists do not enlighten the workers on the events of the day. if they
do not bring class conscious views and socialist ideas to the workers, the latter
will remain under bourgeois-minded leadership, because, says Lenin, the trade-
union struggle of and by itself cannot develop socialist consciousness.
632 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Socialist consciousness, he teaches, must he brought to the workers by an
organization of class-conscious people * * * the Communists. This is so be-
cause socialism is a science, which arose out of the spontaneous growth of the
labor movement, and only this science can make clear to the workers the nature
of capitalism, of the different classes and political parties, the real policies hidden
behind demagogic phrases, why workers are poor, what causes crisis and war.
material oppression, etc. The mission of the Communist Party, as Stalin puts
it, is to wed socialism to the labor movement. * * * on the basis of the daily
struggle (and not separate from it) the Communists must propagandize for
socialism, politically educate the workers, broaden their activity and outlook, and
raise their level so that they respond to all cases of tyranny, oppression, violence,
and abuse, no matter what class is affected. Only in this way can the working
class win and lead its allies, which in America consist of the small farmers, city
poor, and the Negro people. * * *
Trade-union organizers should therefore strive not to be pure and simple
trade-union secretaries, but real leaders, tributes of the people. To play this
great role, they must know Marxian theory, for "without revolutionary theory,"
proclaims Lenin, "there can be no revolutionary practice."
The above views were expressed by Lenin in his work, What Must Be
Done? published in 1903, the year of the foundation of the Bolshevik
Party. Its importance is stressed by Weinstone, in his statement :
No one can work effectively as a Communist or militant unionist in the labor
movement who has not read and studied Lenin's master work, What's To Be
Done?
And contrary to the statements of the defendants in the trial of the
Communist leaders, claiming that the Government has, in fact, in-
dicted a 101-year-old book — the Communist Manifesto, 1848, of Marx
and Engels — and that principles valid during the Bolshevik Revolu-
tion in Russia (1917) are not valid today, Weinstone declares:
Though published 46 years ago, its basic teachings are as fresh and timely as
if written today.
In this connection, it is worth while quoting Mary Sumrak, editor
of the Narodni Glasnik, and vice chairman of the Council of American-
Croatian Women, wlio in an article entitled "Let Us Put Into Effect the
Resolutions Adopted at the Second Congress of American Croatians,"
speaks both of economic and political problems, but with an obvious
stress on the "unity and determination of Americans of Croatian
descent against reaction, and for the people's democracy and peace,"
i. e., on politics. After declaring that —
The Council of American Croatians and the Central Organization of American
Croatian Women will stay in the ranks led by H. Wallace and wnll urge the strug-
gle to unmask the provocators of a third world war —
Mary Sumrak explains the necessity for American-Croatian women
to educate themselves politically :
The second congress brought before us very important tasks * * *. This is
what is going on and what is our first task: The struggle against high prices,
against rent increase, for peace, etc., tliese are problems with which we have to
deal and which deeply affect our life because they concern foodstuffs and the
security of the working peoples.
Let us consider the Taft-Hartley Act, which is an attack on the most elementary
rights of the workers and their unions. That act is a law now. It it remains
a law, it will endanger our rights. It will impede the actions of organized masses
and destroy the much-fought-for rights of unions. If that happens, it will affect
women as much as men, because the woman is the housewife and every action
for lowering the wage of her husband or her own is a blow to her family and the
future of her children.
These are a few examples which I brought up to prove to the women that they
must take interest in the domestic policy of our public life * * *. A short
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 633
■svhile ago, when workers were invited to strike, in some localities, reaction'
printed leaflets in which it appealed to women to try to prevail upon their hus-
bands to desert their unions, because, as they said, "Your husband is losing his
wages, and he could work." But we must know that it is just in organization that
the strength of tlie working masses lies. There you can see how reaction en-
deavors to mislead the woman by its reactionary propaganda. This is the second
reason why women ought to be interested in politics. * * *
Our clubs ought to discuss the above-mentioned tasks and take them seriously.
If we are interested in what is going on in this country and in the world, it will
be easier for us to build up our organization.
Finally, Mary Siimrak cannot resist pointing to the example of
women in Yugoslavia, a country which — at least, according to the
Communist views prevailing before the Cominform-Tito clash — had
achieved "idtimate emancipation" :
The ami Fascist movement of w :men in Yugoslavia is a large and strong
movement of organized women of Yugoslavia. We have, during and after the
war, endeavored to follow the example set by the women of Yugoslavia in many
respects, but we neglected the example in which the greatest strength of our
sisters lies, and that is the strength of the women's organization. In that
respect we must follow their example.
That such views have been impressed upon the rank and file can be
seen from a statement of K. Mikalacki made at a joint conference of
the Slobodna Rec and the Serbian Progressive Movement in Chicago
on December 7, 1947 :
The workers' press is the mightest and best weapon in the struggle for every-
day life and for the final victory over reaction, and that it is so is bast exempli-
fied in France and Italy, where the workers are waging a struggle of life and
death against reaction and the remnants of fascism. If those people did not
have a strong and widespread workers' press, their struggle could not possibly
aim at so great and ambitious an objective.
How the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik are performing their
function of "teachers" and "educators"' of American Serbs and Croats
can best be demonstrated by presenting their stand on various prob-
lems related to the United States :
II- THE STAND OF THE SLOBODNA REC AND NARODNI GLASNIK ON PROBLEMS
OF AMERICAN FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICY
A. Foreign policy of the United States
United States diplomacy is unfair. — The Slobodna Rec of March 11,
1947, page 4, published a long letter of protest to Secretary of State
George C. Marshall, by Zlatko Balokovic, chairman of the resident
board of the National Committee of the American Slav Congress, who
had just returned from a 3-month trip to Yugoslavia, where he at-
tended the All-Slav Congress. Slobodna Rec dedicated a whole page
to his letter under the headline "American Embassy in Yugoslavia
pursuing unfriendly activities" and the subhead "Improper use of
diplomatic immunity."
Of course, neither Balokovic nor Slobodna Rec ever noticed any
unfriendly activity of foreign diplomatic or other missions from coun-
' In Communist language, the term "reaction" or "the reartion" is a collective noun
used to describe anything that is anti-Communist, but particularly capitalism or systems
of government, society, economics, ideology, et cetera which existed prior to the estab-
lishment of Communist regimes. "Reaction" might be translated to mean generally "the
forces of reaction," the movement of the reactionaries," or "the reactionaries." The term
is used as if "the reaction" were a living entity, in such phrases as, for example : "The
reaction printed propaganda leaflets," "the reaction oppressed the masses," "the reaction
is threatening our people with destruction," the reaction must be defeated by "world
revolution."
634 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
tries of "socialism" or "people's democracies" to the United States or
any improper use of their immunity.
The Truman doctrine. — In the Slobodna Kec of June 17, 1947, page 3,
a "Poem of the Workers" is published, wherein the author, Jovan Ra-
dulovich, Detroit, Mich., attacks President Truman's doctrine as un-
American : "All that is the deal of a clique of wealthy people * * *
against communism and against the Russians." But the workers "are
graduated politically and will not tolerate dictatorship. Whatever
happens, they will not be blind slaves."
In a report at the conference of the Serbian Progressive Movement
at Akron, Ohio, Nikola Drenovac, former chief editor of the Slobodna
Rec and chairman of the Serbian Progressive Movement, said, among
other things :
While we are fighting against fascism on our own Serbian national field, here
in America we are, at the same time, fighting against world fascism, which is
raising its head considerably, owing mainly to the so-called Truman doctrine.
The trend of such a Washington policy has given courage to Fascist elements
all over the world, and has given them hope for the revival of all that has been
defeated in this war by common allied forces * * *.
Such a group of criminals and people's traitors from Yugoslavia has found
protection here in America and, moreover, these war criminals have helped here
to persecute Communists and have been fervent executors and followers of the
Truman doctrine.
We shall be defending freedom if we help with all our forces the struggle ol
the American people against the various Hoovers, Rankins, Tafts, and other
representatives of American reaction.
In the Narodni Glasnik of September 17, 1947, page 4, Eusibio Ruio
expresses the Communist view on American foreign policy in his
article entitled, "The Lack of Knowledge of True Reality.''
President Truman's doctrine can rightly be called expansion, because the
Truman doctrine sent American military experts to Greece and Turkey, and that
is at the border of Yugoslavia and Greece. Must Yugoslavia and Russia view
that American expansion with indifference? No !
The Truman doctrine will lead to a third world war, if it is consequently carried
out in Europe.
Americans would contribute much more to world peace if they would stop inter-
fering in the internal affairs of the Greek people. Better relations on the Balkans
would ensue. While, as it is today, Albania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria are in-
secure, they do not know when the Greek reactionary elements will penetrate into
the above states and provoke a third world war.
Greece will be the stumbling block and can be the beginning of the third world
war. Who will be responsible for the third world war ?
Fascism and warmongering in America. — Following strictly the
Communist line, that the center of evil and trouble in the world is
America, Nikola Baltich, of New York City, in his article, Forward
With the Work (Slobodna Rec, December 13, 1947) , says :
* * * All reactionary cliques of this country and the rest of the world are
firmly determined to annihilate progress and install reaction, to deprive the people
of their civil rights, and, instead of democratic rights and liberties, to organize
the persecution of all progressive persons and organizations, as well as of national
minorities.
The Thomas-Rankin committee has already started such terrorism in the film
industry and elsewhere. This is only the beginning and if it is not stopped in
time, it will spread all over the country. The per.secution of the forei.4n-born, the
persecution of colored people, the instigation to race hatred are proofs that in
our country, which throughout its history has given freedom and protection to
everybody. Fascist methods of persecution and oppression are being introduced.
It is needless to stress that the Slobodna Rec seizes every opportunity
to give publicity to any statement which indicts America before the
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 635
world. So the Serbian People's Calendar Vidovdan for 1948 adver-
tised in the Slobodna Rec of December 17, 1947, page 8, contains the
article by Henry A. Wallace : "Truman's program will turn the world
against America."
The United States and peace. — In the Slobodna Rec of August 9,
1947, page 2, an article is published by J. Orahovich, under the title,
"The Policy of Our Government Does Not Contribute to the Coopera-
tion Between the Great Powers Nor to World Peace."
The United States against peace. — The Narodni Glasnik of Decem-
ber 1, 1948, publishes under the title, "Plan for the 3-Month Campaign
of the Narodni Glasnik," a report by editor "Sister Mary Sumrak" at
the national conference of the Narodni Glasnik in Cleveland, Ohio.
Before outlining the tasks of this paper, Mary Sumrak makes herself
clear on the situation in America:
The principal forces against the e.stablisliment of peace in the world are just
in this country. These forces are threatening a new war. They are responsible
for the big armaments in our country. They are creating hysteria and war-
mongering, and preventing a peaceful settlement of disputes between nations —
in the first place, in agreement with the Soviet Union and the new democracies in
Europe.
But the American people do not want war — they want peace. They have ex-
pressed that in the last election, by defeating the most reactionary elements which
wei-e waging a canii»aign for war, for the abolishment of all democratic rights of
the American people, and the establishment of a Fascist form of government in
our country. * * *
The black forces of reaction are trying to drag the world into another war.
The war propaganda is going full blast. The trade-unions are in danger, the
freedom and fundamental rights of the American people are in danger — in danger
is the peace of the world. The people of America and of all countries are faced
with fateful events.
In spite of the people's will for peace, the war propaganda and bipartisan policy
of all parties of big capital, are being continued and are threatening all people.
The persecution of progressive and national minorities has not been ended. It
is being continued. Many of our organizations are still unjustly on the sub-
versive list. Constitutional and democratic rights are being denied to them.
Their leaders are being threatened with new persecution and deportation.
America must help Comtnunist countries. — In a letter addressed to
President Truman by Anton Gerlach and Leo Bacich on behalf of
the Seventh National Convention of the Croatian Benevolent Fra-
ternity meeting in Cleveland, June 14 and 15 (and published in the
Narodni Glasnik of July 8, 1947), it was demanded that capitalistic
America immediately help Communist Yugoslavia:
We, therefore, urge that Yugoslavia be added to the list of nations to receive aid
from the .$.3.50,000.000 appropriation for relief. We suggest that Yugoslavia be
allotted at least .$15,000,000 to tide her over until she can stand on her own feet
and feed her people from her harvest this fall.
The Marshall plan. — ^As on every other issue, the Narodni Glasnik
assumes, in the controversy about the Marshall plan, the stand of the
Communist Party. This is drastically exemplified in the article, Fly-
ing Saucers, the Marshall Plan, Dictators, and Miscellaneous, by F.
Tadey :
On the Marshall plan for the recovery of European economy, tons of material
have been written, countless statements issued, and many debates and speeches
given, but it seems that nobody has a clear idea what that plan contains. The
news from London says that Bevin, urging the European countries to accept the
Marshall plan, declared that "it would be wrong to ask Marshall wherein actually
his plan consists. * * * Indeed, why disturb the man? Accept it, period."
636 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
However, it looks as if something of this liind is going on: The European
countries vote to aid themselves mutually and cooperate with Britain, and, with
American help, build up a new economy. A controlling or ruling board would
be elected or appointed, which would consist mainly of representatives of Britain
and France. That board would study the situation and would order what and
how it should be done. For instance, that board would say to Czechoslovakia :
"Don't you now develop industry * * * You had better cultivate potatoes,
and we will furnish you with the necessary industrial products." To Poland
it would say : "Don't care about the potatoes, but dig coal. We shall take care
of the rest." To Norway they would possibly say : "Give up manufacturing steel.
Leave that to us, and you better cacch fish, cut wood, and dig minerals. The
rest is our concern." To Italy they would maybe say : "You give up potatoes
and industry, fish and wood. We shall take care of all that, and you just keep
the leftists out of the government" (Narodni Glasnik, July 11, 1947, p. 3).'
The 'State Department — All these condemnatory opinions on United
States foreign policy are even more nnderstandable if one takes into
account what kind of people, according to the Slobodna Rec, are in the
State Department.
In tlie Slobodna Rec of May 27, 1947, p. 3, a report by Marko J. Mur-
isich of San Francisco is published on the case of an elderly man who
applied to the State Department for a passport to visit his ailing
son in Yugoslavia, but was refused. In the report, which bears the
title "Do They Have Any Parents' Love At All ?", it is said :
Can such a thing happen in the country of Washington, in the country of Jeffer-
son, in the country of Lincoln?
It can happen. * * *
The old man asked me: "Do people in the State Department have children?"
"They certainly have," said I.
How would they feel if some ill-famed government of some foreign country
would deny them the right to go abroad to see their own children? * * *
The history of this war has shown that the Fascist beasts have no more feel-
ing toward a child than they have toward the most dangerous wild beasts. I
do not know then how people in the State Department can be without parental
love, or how it is possible that they do not think, at least in cases like this
one, of parental love.
It seems to me that reaction in America does not feel much different from the
Fascists.
This opinion still does not prevent progressives from urging the
State Department to stop insulting Yugoslavia.
The Narodni Glasnik of July 8, 1947, carries a letter to Secretary of
State George Marshall signed by Anton Gerlach and Leo Bacich, in
which they say :
Therefore, we urge you to use your influence in the State Department to adopt
a policy of friendship toward Yugoslavia and make it possible for a friendly
exchange of visitors to and from Yugoslavia. * * *
We earnestly hope that these insults to the Yugoslav people will cease and make
possible a better relationship between the people of the United States and Yugo-
slavia.
It is noteworthy how the Narodni Glasnik and people connected
with it, who are never concerned about America, are worried about
the interests and prestige of other countries — namely, those of social-
ism or of people's democracy, i. e., Soviet satellites.
The Atlantic Pact. — In the Narodni Glasnik of April 6, 1949, an
editorial is dedicated to the Atlantic Pact, under the title : "A Serious
Warning to the World" :
The gentlemen want war, in which the people have to pay with their blood,
toil, and money. The gentlemen will hoard profits, as in all other wars.
The people cannot leave to the corrupt gentlemen to decide the question of war
or peace, but they must decide themselves. They must decide it through a resolute
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 637
Struggle against warmongers. In that struggle millions of people are rising all
over the world.
Slavery for colonial peoples.— ^\\^ Narodni Glasnik of July 7, 1949,
carries an editorial under the title: "Truman's 'Bold Plan'— New
Slavery for Colonial Peoples," and says :
The so-called bold plan which President Truman submitted to the Congress is,
in fact, nothing but a new way of enslaving the African and other colonial
peoples. * * *
It is hardly disputable that the above views are entirely compliant
with the official Connnunist Party stand on the United States foreign
policy. Holding thoroughly Communist view^s on United States for-
eign-policy problems, the Slobodna Eec and Narodni Glasnik cannot
be expected to hold opinions of a different brand on matters of democ-
racy in America and the domestic policy of the United States
Government.
B. Democracy in the United States and the domestic folicy of the
United States Government
Dollar jmiriots.—lw the Slobodna Rec of May 29, 1947, a
poem, under the title "Enough of Suffering and Sorrow," is published
by Milo Marotich, Dearborn, Mich., which assails "dollar patriots" who
are preparing bills in the Congress to deprive the workers of all their
rights acquired during Roosevelt America.
Break-doion of capitalism.— 1\\ the Slobodna Rec of July 31, 1947,
a poem, under the title "The Knight of the Dollar and the Elevator
Boy," signed by "Mitar," is reprinted from Jez (the humoristic news-
paper published in Belgrade, Yugoslavia) . The poem is an allegorical
preview of the break-down of capitalism in the United States through
general strike.
Un-American activities. — In the Slobodna Rec of August 23, 1947,
Stanko Vuich publishes an article against the House Committee oh
Un-American Activities under the title "Fifth Columnists Cannot
Decide Who Is Loyal to the United States and Who Is Not."
A7ne7Hcan investments in fascism. — In an article published in the
Slobodna Rec of November 19, 1947, page 3, under the title
"On Armistice Day, November 11," Dushan M. Pejovich, Detroit, in-
dulges in considerations and reflections about the connection between
poor people and peace on the one hand, and millionaires and war on
the other :
While the poor and war-ruined people had optimistic views about all that
[after World War I], others, who were mightier and better fed, craving for
revenge and war wealth, and supported morally and materially by all those who
saw the salvation of humanity and their fat income from invested capital in
dictators and fascism, prepared a second human bloodshed. * * *
Do those in the millionaires' offices under whose windows the parade [after
World War II] is marching and tliose who have not yet forgotten their invest-
ments in prewar fascism— do they look upon parades as we poor, ?mall people
do, or are they laughing at our stupidity?
The lovers of peace and those who suffered from the previous wars, today dread
the commercial politics and commercial maneuvering wliich are being pursued
against the people, who want friendship and unity among nations.
Fascism in America.— hi its issue of November 22, 1947, the Slobodna
Rec publishes an article against the Pittsburgh Press and its main
source of information, the American Srbobran — organ of the Serb Na-
tional Federation, Pittsburgli, Pa., "which has * * * joined Ameri-
638 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
can national reaction in strengthening the Fascist activities in this
country. * * * They seek to destroy the most democratic avenues
of expression of the common people,"
Reactionary America. — In his article, the London Fog (Slobodna
Rec, Nov. 29, 1947) , Dushan Pejovich, in his democratic zeal, assails the
reactionary press in America for giving space in its columns to the
wedding of Princess Elizabeth in London :
This attitude of the reactionary press in America, which from the first moment
of decision shook off the King's domination, plays not only into the hands of the
English King, but of all kings, former and present, and still wants to prove that
such a system of government is democratic.
One of the most revealing articles was published in the Naroclni
Glasnik of May 9, 1947, page 3, by Mary Sumrak, first vice chairman of
American Croatian Women.
United States loarmongers. — An article is published under the page-
wide heading Croatian women at work for a better and happier future :
On Mother's Day this year, not all graves of all soldiers who fell have yet been
found. The tears of bereaved mothers have not yet dried, and already new black
clouds are casting shadows over the earth ; already those who from the blood of
our sons and daughters are drawing personal profits are warmongering and pro-
voking a third world war. They do not care about mothers' feelings, they do not
care about anything but their greed. A handful of billionaires, who are ruth-
lessly plundering American mothers and taking away from them the bread from
their tables, being afraid of the people, afraid that they will lose the unlimited
right to profits and plunder, have plotted against the democratic peoples, who
have risen from the ruins of Fascist military power, who have acquired freedom
and who in their ranks are building a new world of equality and brotherhood.
This small handful of ruthless and greedy people are threatening with a new war,
are threatening with atomic bombs, and are bent upon taking away from millions
of mothers what is most precious to them — their children.
We mothers ought to and have to stand firmly by Wallace and others who are
following the policy of the late Roosevelt * * *. We must not allow our sons
and daughters to be again driven to the battlefields to defend the interests of
greedy imperialists * * *
A single glance at what is happening in the Congress of our country is enough
to convince us of the danger which threatens those ideas for which the World
War was waged and for which our sons and daughters died. All these plans for
depriving the little common men of their rights and liberties must incite us to
pull together from passivity and to take an active part in the realization of the
program of the late President Roosevelt, which alone leads to the realization of
the ideals for which our children fell. * * *
Only through a strong mass movement will we be able to fight reaction which is
provoking war. American women are organized in the Congress of American
Women, which is a part of the International Women's Congress.^ We are closely
connected with these organizations and through them the women of the world.
Thus linked with a strong mass movement and if we are well organized ourselves,
we will be able to wage successfully the fight for a better and happier future.
The hreak-down of capitalism. — In Slobodna Eec of May 27, 1947, a
poem is published by Sofia Mark, of Detroit, Micli., entitled "To My
Son Charlie":
To raise your fist against slavery and fascism
And all other cynicism —
There will be waves of struggle for you yet,
Because the world has freedom to get.
To worry for food and other things
In the land of plenty and everything,
Your name will be in line with othei's, who gave
Their lives to break the chains and orders.
^ Congress of the Womens International Democratic Federation. The Congress of Amer-
ican Women is listed as a Communist front organization by the Attorney General, see
appendix II, p. A7.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 639
United States Government and United States feoiple. — In the issue
of Slobodna Rec of September 20, 1947, Nikola Baltich publishes an
article against the decision of the Department of State not to issue
passports for visitors to Yugoslavia, under the title "The Voice of the
People Ought To Be Heard."
It is noteworthy that here again, the writers of the Slobodna Rec
make a distinction between the Government and the people of the
United States, whereas they always identify people and government
%vhen the Soviet Union is concerned.
Wall Street^ Hitler, Mussolini. — In a letter allegedly received from
Yugoslavia by Obrenija Biberdzic, of Chicago, 111., and published in
the Slobodna Rec of November 26, 1947, page 3, it is said :
On the whole, overytliing is all right. lUit it seems to me that those trusts of
yours hate us. They would like us to be obedient slaves of Wall Street, but we
want to lead our own lives. If anyone goes off his head and touches us, we
will send him along the same way as Hitler and Mussolini. That is the message
of eastern Europe to all those who want to subdue and oppress other peoples.
With us are justice and the working people of the whole world.
Reaction against the people. — The Narodni Glasnik of May 9, 1947,
page 3, published a report on the Women's International Democratic
Federation and the Congress of American Women by Anna Seliger^
writing on behalf of the Committee of the Council of American-
Croatian Women in New York. The author speaks at length of the
situation in America in order to make clear the tasks of the Women's
International Democratic Federation, whose first meeting took place
in Prague from February 20 to March 1, 1947 :
The November election and other events in America showed of how great
importance it is to develop as much as possible the Congress of American Women.
The attack of reaction against the workers' unions and the liberties of the Ameri-
can people, the plundering of the people on the part of the profit-hungry capi-
talists and bankers, has brought about a very critical period in American his-
tory. In this period and in the future, the Congress of American Women must
play a very important and extensive role; the struggle for the 'reservation and
raising of the standard of living, the struggle for the preservation of the people's
liberties and the American Constitution, the struggle for the preservation of world
peace and well-being, the struggle against discrimination and equal rights for all
classes of people, regardless of racial, religious, political, or any other differences.
The Congress of American Women (which numbers 200,000 members) through
its commissions is holding meetings and presenting petitions in the defense of
these rights and liberties, guaranteed by the American Constitution, is taking
part with other organizations in the campaign for the control of prices against
inflation, is waging a struggle against the antiworkers' legislation, and is par-
ticipating in all fields of activity, for a betterment of the American people.
The Congress of American Women has mobilized all its local committees and
members in the general campaign for the preservation of a lasting peace through
the United Nations Organization, disarmament and destruction of the atomic
bomb and weapons, and for world cooperation.
The Congress of American Women, as a part of the Women's International
Democratic Federation, is using all means to achieve the above aims.
Therefore, I want to conclude with the wish that all our women's organiza-
tions become members of the Congress of American Women, because only if
organized in a strong organization will we be able to fulfill successfully the tasks
which these troubled times are imposing upon us.
Gestapo in America, freedom, in Yugoslavia — In the Narodni Glas-
nik of September 8, 1947, page 2, Peter Simrak sounds the alarm
against the "Gestapo Callahan Act" :
The Callahan Act ' entitles the State attorney to arrest whom he wishes when-
^ "An act to regulate and control the operation of foreign agencies acting within the
State of Micliigan ; and to prescribe penalties for violations of the provisions of this act"
(Michigan Public Acts of 1947, No. 270; Mich. Stat. Ann. (Callaghan), sec. 18.58).
640 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
ever lie wishes, to keep his victims arrested as long as he likes, without accusa-
tion or jury. Any individual, club, or organization, which has any direct or
indirect connection with a foreign state or institution may be called an agent.
Such laws used to exist in some other countries in the recent past. There
were laws for thought control. There existed especially trained police who had
the task of finding out what people think. * * *
Today such Fascist laws are being transplanted in the State of Michigan, and
in due time, would spread all over the country. It will be possible to arrest in a
Gestapo manner, without warrants, without formal accusation, without witnesses
or court processes. This at least, is the idea, but the people have not yet had
their say. * * *
At the same time, a special bail fund of $250,000 is being created, so that it
will be possible to free from jail people who come in conflict with the Michigan
police. The people of Michigan are confronted with a great danger, but that
danger threatens in the same way all others, wherever they may be. That
is why their struggle is our struggle.
It is a strange coincidence that the same issue of the Narodni Ghisnik,
in which the word "Gestapo" is connected with tlie United States,
carries a letter sent to the editor of Narodni Glasnik by Riiza Pinto,
Yugoslav Progressive Club of Los Angeles, Calif., in which it is said
of Yugoslavia : "We enjoy today pure democratic freedom under the
leadership of our Marshal Tito." This, however, was before the
Cominform-Tito clash.
'Warmongers in America. — In the Slobodna Rec of August 30, 19-iT,
Josip Rajnovich, faithfully following the Communist views of the
unity of all reaction, assails "the bankrupt statesmen, diplomats, and
generals of old Yugoslavia" as well as "warmongers Churchill, Hearst,
and Hoover."
TJn-American actimties. — One might compare with the article We
Must Not Forget by Ivan Jankovic (Narodni Glasnik, August 22,
1947, p. 3), the statement issued by the Croatian Fraternal Union
( CFU) and published in the Narodni Glasnilc of August 21, 1947. The
officials of this organization "deny false accusation of the Un-Ameri-
can Activities Committee" and as —
loyal American citizens bitterly condemn any suspicions or accusations * * *
against the CFU of America and its members.
We urgently petition the Committee on n-American Activities to investigate
instead, those who so brazenly and maliciously point the finger of accusation
against the CFU of America, and establish their nefarious reasons for such acts.
IrpeR'ponsihle elements and loorld war III. — In the same issue of the
Narodni Glasnik, Mary Sumrak, vice chairman of the Council of
American-Croatian WomeM, is addressing an invitation to the Ameri-
can-Croatian women to "put into effect resolutions adopted at the
Second Congress of American-Croatians." Among other things,
Mary Sumrak says :
During the war, the American-Croatian men and women, who were engaged
in the struggle against the deadly enemy, who set himself the aim and task of
conquering the world, stood by their President Roosevelt and the United Nations
who fought for the defeat of fascism.
After the war, when in this country and in the world, brotherhood and unity
ought to prevail, irresponsible elements rose to the surface who started launch-
ing slogans for a third world war. Such elements encountered the resistance
of people like Henry WiiUace, Senator Pepper, and oth'^'s. wlio are fightir-;: for
the ideals of the true democracy for the people s righls and the unity of the
peace-loving mankind.
Fascism,. — The Communist view that not all fascism has been wiped
out by the defeat of Nazi Germany and Japan, but that it lives on in
capitalism, bent upon provoking a third world w^ar, is expressed in
a letter allegedly received from Yugoslavia by George Maravic of
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 641
Gary, Ind., and published in tlie Slobodna Rec of November 8, 1947,
page 3, under the title "We Must Not Allow Fascism To Eaise Its
Head To Provoke World-Wide Bloodshed."
Anglo-American monopolists. — In an article entitled "German
Property Abroad," published in the Slobodna Rec of July 31, 1947,
page 2, Milan Slani contends that the total of German property which
goes in the form of reparations into the hands of the United States
and Great Britain is 10.5 billion dollars, which is more than the total
amount of Soviet reparations. From such considerations the author
concludes :
It is in the light of these facts that the efforts of the Anglo-American authori-
ties and their monopolistic circles to conceal the amount and the real origin of
German property abroad must be viewed.
American democracy. — One of the most indicative articles as to the
stand of Nardoni Glasnik and people connected with it on American
democracy was published in the issue of August 22, 1947, page 3. In
this article, entitled "We Must Not Forget," Ivan Jankovich says :
In the course of these postwar years, a veil is being pulled over the eyes —
a veil well-nigh mysterious, invisible, but which you still can feel. Over the
daily press controlled by various automobile and steel magnates and other
cartels some new lines are being put before the people. It is directed to a new
hazardous step * * * to clear away the remnants of today's democracy. * * *
To achieve this we are advised to reject the unions in our daily life, because
they are headed by racketeers which are leading the members of the unions to
catastrophe. And in order to achieve that success, to make our work easier,
they have already taken the necessary steps ; they have adopted an antiworkers'
law, the Taft-Hartley bill. On the political field, they are recommending a new
monster. We ought to reorganize Japan, so that democracy may be safeguarded
also from that side.
The storm of these pests of our days is turning to a cyclone which, on its
destructive way, is pulling out and breaking, destroying, and annihilating the
little moral conscience we have left. Doubt and disintegration are arising.
People are asking. How and why rearm Japan and against whom?
Strange is this life, they answer us. We live in the twentieth century, in
the century of wonders of technique, in the period of the atomic bomb, in a life
of sudden changes in which period a friend of yesterday is tomorrow the worst
enemy. Yes ; such is life.
In this turmoil of immoral ethics, our immigrants are straining their eyes
and ears in the exi^ectation of some great events. Public opinion is excited and
something must happen. The curtain. The iron curtain. We must peep behind
it to see what is hidden there. Because we, oh, yes, we are democrats, the only
"right" and "proved" system, the best system — free enterprise. We are the only
ones on this earth of tears and suffering who possess something which the rest
of the world does not have ; yes, we possess democracy.
The ruthless people in this country are endeavoring to put in our hands in an
invisible way a knife with two blades, which they would, by means of some new
scientific "energy" operate in the direction of massacring.
Oh, tl ese Balkan people ! Oh, that cursed Russia ! If only she wasn't there,
there would be no Tito, and there would be even no Dimitrov,^ no Groza," and
no Albanian Enver Hoxha. How happy this world would be. We would
freely spread all over Europe our tested system of the pretty harlot, which we
have nari(;d democracy.
Fascism and com^munism. — In the Narodni Glasnik of May 5, 1947,
page 2, l^'rank Borich, executive secretary of the People's Council of
America ti-Croatians, publishes an article on the importance of the
Great Second Congress of American Croatians and Croatian Women :
[The conference] was a magnificent manifestation of the unity and determina-
tion of A-nericans of Croatian descent against reaction, for the people's demo-
cracy and peace. * * *
' Geor?i Dimitrov, Communist dictator of Bulgaria.
' Petru Groza, puppet Prime Minister of Rumania.
642 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Nearly 600 delegates cheered consciously and enthusiastically in the name
of all the members to stress the need of unity of the Big Three in the United
Nations Organization for the uprooting of all remnants of fascism. * * *
This was especially demonstrated by the thunderous applause when the
name of Henry A. Wallace was mentioned, who, through his energetic struggle
for the peace program of Franklin D. lioosevelt, expresses the fervent strivings
and the wishes of the great American people to help the war-devastated coun-
tries with plows and not with guns. * * *
They were not the least intimidated or impressed by the futile threatening
with the "bogey" of communism, since they know that behind it is concealed the
plot of the vested interests and reaction against all achievements of the American
people and the freedom of other countries which they achieved after much
struggle.
The American Slav Congress and communism. — Although unim-
pressed by the threats with the Communist "bogey" the same author,
Frank Borich, is anxious to "destroy that disgusting slander." In the
Narodni Glasnik of August 12, 1947, page 2, he is addressing "three
very important messages to all branches of the People's Council,"
especially urging them to support The Slavic American, published by
the American Slav Congress :
This periodical is of enormous importance, not only for us Slavs, but for
all Americans. It is important especially today when reaction is endeavoring
to brand all of us, who gave all that we had for the victory in the war, as "fifth
columnists." We must destroy that disgusting slander and prove to the people
of America that we Slavs are among the best and most loyal citizens of America,
who always fought for its democratic traditions and democ.atic ideals. The
Slavic American will play here a great role. That is why we must divulge it,
not only among Americans of Slavic origin but among others as well.
True Americanism. — The Connnunist view that only "progressive'
Americanism is true Americanism is expressed in the article, Clear the
Smog, by John Vidmar, Jr., president of the Yugoslav-American
Youth Club Unity, Pittsburgh, Pa. (published in thQ Narodni Glasnik
of October 2, 1947, p. 8) :
From the very moment of our birth, we have been "Red-baited," which causes
confusion among some of our present members. Clear your minds, brothers and
sisters. * * *
Our position of fighting for the foreign policy of Franklin D. Roosevelt, of
friendship wuth the U. S. S. R., Yugoslavia, and all of our wartime allies, for an
everlasting peace ; our policy to light discrimination, white chauvinism, and all
other tendencies that lead to fascism, gives us the privilege of being fighters for
true Americanism, of building an America on true democratic lines.
Break-down of capitalism. — In the Slobodna Rec of September 18,
1947, support is urged "to our democratic newspaper, which is lashing
the Fascists, whose chains are breaking, so that we must do everything
to break the last link."
In the Slobodna Rec of Attgust 12, 1947, page 3, Krcun Sekulich
seized the opportunity of writing an obituary in the form of a poem
to suggest the inevitability of the break-down of capitalism :
And you died calmly, full of youthful dreams * * *
Of the old world crumbling and falling apart.
'■''Every one of us a Communisty — And if the old world is falling
apart, then, according to the Narodni Glasnik, nothing remains but
to join the Communists. In its issue of August 21, 1947, the Narodni
Glasnik publishes a letter received by Marko Papa of Pittsburgh, Pa.,
from his daughter in Paris under the title "Many Strikes Are Break-
ing Out in Paris." In that letter the author, according to the Narodni
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 643
Glasnik, "pictures the situation in Paris and expresses his wishes and
the wishes of French workers" :
* * * What we Iiave lived through here ought to make every one of us a
Comniuuist, that is, a true Communist and not, as some are, only with words
and not with sentiments.
Here every now and then strikes are breaking out, one alter another. These
days such a demonstration took place that the police was powerless. I am glad
that the j)eople here will some day embrace the idea of communism * * *
because there will be more freedom and less suspicion among peoples.
Moral and political terrorism in the United States. — In such a coun-
try as the United States, it appears from the above statements that the
Slobodna Kec has for 13 years been doing "noble work," according
to MiLan Polovina of San Pedro, Calif. (Thirteen Years of Noble
Work, Slobodna Kec, Dec. 17, 1U4T) :
Thanks to the capitulation of the people who succeeded the great Roosevelt at
the helm of this great country of ours, to the monopoUstic and reactionaiy
elements of the country, an unprect dented persecution of progressive and demo-
cratic forces, is being carried out, and moral and political terrorism is being
made possible. The consequences of such a domestic policy of our Government
and the determination of the reaction to stifle the people's liberties and American
democracy must not be underestimated.
They not only endanger the existence of the patriotic followers of progressive
thought and our democratic institutions, but such a policy is endangering the
existence of a free America — the America of Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt.
Such a policy, if continued, will inevitably deliver America into the hands of
fascism. * * *
Our workers' unions are being snatched fi'om the hands of progressive workers'
leaders and by means of laws such as the Taft-Hartley bill are becoming the
prey of monopolistic lackeys. The Taft-Hartley bill is only the beginning of
aggression, of the organization of American industrialists against the workers"^
and progressive institutions. This aggression by the representatives of Ameri-
can monopolists in the Republican Congress jeopardizes all achievements which
the American working people have made in the course of their hard struggle for
the last 25 years.
The campaign of the reactionary press and radio against the Soviet Union ;
our help to the Monarcho-Fascists in Greece, Turkey, and Italy and China,
against the interests of those countries — all this leads to one goal : The third
world carnage and fascism.
Whether these autipeople's forces, here and in the world, will succeed in real-
izing their diabolic plans, depends very much on the energetic resistance whieli
the democratic and progressive forces here and in the world will be able to oppose
in the struggle for the preservation of world peace and the democratic achieve-
ments of peace-loving mankind. This autipeople's offensive will not, and can-
not, succeed if that i-esistance is strong enough ; if that resistance results from a
united front of all progressive and democratic forces, workers' and peasants"
unions and organizations, and the democratically minded intelligentia.
Bearing in mind that our Slobodna Rec is also closely connected with the
struggle against the enemies of the working people, against warmongers and
fascism, bearing in mind that it is closely connected with the struggle for peace
and international friendship, our tasks are clear and well defined.
Truman and Wall Street want war. — Never missing an opportunity
to oppose the United States Government to the people, the Narodni
Glasnik of January 12, 1949, in its editorial, analyzes Truman's budget
plan and declares :
We have said that Truman's whole program is based on Wall Street's war
plans. * * *
The people must understand this and demand President Truman and the Con-
gress to put an end to the cold war and the spending of money for war aims.
Instead of war material, houses, schools, and hospitals ought to be built. The
people must have greater social security and a better life. The people want peace,
not war.
644 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
America rewarding war criminals. — The strike wave in France in
January 1949 incites the Narodni Glasnik to the following considera-
tions :
According to news from France, workers in various state-owned plants and
factories have gone, or are about to go, on strilie * * *
They are striking in protest against the planned return of nationalized in-
dustry to their prewar owners. * * *
This seems to be part of the ingratiating and submission to the American bank-
ers and monopolists who, with the help of our Government are waging a campaign
for free enterprise all over the world. * * *
That is not surprising. Our powerholders have been the first to forgive the sins
of the Nazis. The French reactionaries had only to watch what General Clay ^ is
doing in Germany, to come to the conclusion that, if the Americans can set Hitler's
henchmen free, it is a sign for them to set free their own domestic traitors and
moreover to reward them.
(Narodni Glasnik, January 14, 1949; editorial: The Rewarding of War
Criminals).
Truman does not want peace. — In the editorial of the Narodni
Glasnik from January 24, 1949, President Truman's inauguration
speech is commented upon, and the conclusion is expressed in the
title "Truman Does Not Want Peace."
Going the imperialistic loay.— In the Narodni Glasnik from Janu-
ary 25, 1949, an editorial on the withdrawal of the CIO from the World
Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) is published under the title
"Going the Imperialistic Way," in which it is said :
From all that, it can clearly be seen that Carey ^ and the rest of the clique are
holding the interests of the INIarshall plan and their masters from Wall Street
above the interests of the W'orkers.
III. THE STAND OF THE SLOBODNA REG AND NARODNI GLASNIK ON YUGO-
SLAVIA BEFORE THE COMINFORM-TITO CLASH
The above statements seem to prove convincingly that the attitude
of the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik toward the existing demo-
cratic order of their own country, the United States, is one of strong
disapproval. However, tlie tone swings from sharpest criticism to
boundless praise when the new Communist regime in Yugoslavia
(until the Cominform-Tito conflict, June 28, 1948) is concerned. The
Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik do not hesitate to draw compari-
sons between the United States and Yugoslavia whereby the United
States is always — without a single exception — the loser.
Example to the Wor'ld. — In the greeting to the working youth on the
Samac-Sarajevo Railroad from the delegates of the county conference
of American Democratic Serbs gathered around the progressive news-
paper Slobodna Rec, it is said that:
The building of the Samac-Sarajevo ^ Railroad line is unique in history. It
can serve as holiest example of the devotion of the young generation of Tito's'
Yugo.slavia to economic and cultural progress, an example not only to the people
of the FPR Yugoslavia, but to all democratic nations of the world (Slobodna Reci
of May 27, 1947).
' Gen. Lucius B. Clay (then) military governor of Germany. I
- James B. Carey, secretary-treasurer of the CIO and leader at that time of the antl-l
Communist faction of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America
T'lO). Mr. Carey is presently administrative chairman of the International Union of
Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (CIO), the union established by the CIO in oppo-
sition to the UERMWA, the latter having been ousted from the CIO in November 1949 1
because of its Communist leadership.
' The Samac-Sarajevo railway was one of tlie so-called youth projects. It was a
special ground for indoctrination of foreign youth who, while not working on the railway,
were indoctrinated with Communist philosophy.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 645
In the Slobodna Rec of June 26, 1947, appears a letter allegedly re-
ceived from Yugoslavia by Michael and Eugenia Pramenko, Ana-
conda, Mont., in which the Chetniks are blamed for most of the misery-
endured by the civilian population, and the new Communist regime is
highly praised.
Everybody is free. — In the Slobodna Rec of August 5, 1947, a report
is published on the "Magnilicent Welcome" to Bozo Galeb and Martin
Zoric in Cupertino, Calif., returning from a visit to Yugoslavia, where
Galeb is quoted as saying :
The people cleaned up the country forever. It has forged together not only the
brotherhood and unity of the peoples of Yugoslavia, but also the brotherhood and
unity with all other Slav nations which fought for the same cause * * *_ ^\\q
people are very gay and entirely free * * *. All land is divided among the
peasants. Everybody has the same rights and the same duties.
Everybody can come to meetings and say what he desires and feels. Every
peasant and worker, every citizen, can openly and publicly criticize all that he
does not like and that he deems wrong. What the people ask for they get. The
people complement the authorities. They dismiss from power anybody who does
not act correctly and well.
Progressing in every way. — In the Slobodna Rec of September 11,
1947, page 2, a letter allegedly received from Yugoslavia is published
under the heading "Yugoslavia Is Progressing in Every Way."
Governr)ient hy the people. — In the Slobodna Rec of August 5, 1947,
a letter is published, allegedly received from Yugoslavia by M. Marich,
in ^^ hich it is said that :
The imperialists dislike the pre.sent state of affairs in Yugoslavia, because it is
the people who rule there now.
Country of the working people. — In another letter allegedly re-
ceived from Yugoslavia, by Milovan Vojnovich, Packwood, Wash.,
and published in the Slobodna Rec of August 9, 1947, it is said :
The face of our country is being changed, and it is the country of the working
people.
Everything belongs to the people. — In another letter allegedly
received from Yugoslavia by Milan Marich, Chicago, 111., and pub-
lished in the Slobodna Rec of August 21, 1947, it is said :
With us there is voluntary work, because the people know that everything
belongs to them.
World admires Yugoslavia. — A letter allegedly received from Yugo-
slavia by M. Budimirovich, Lincoln Park, Mich., published in the Slo-
bodna Rec on September 13, 1947, was printed under a two-column-
wide title: "The Over-all Development and Progress of Yugoslavia
Receives the Admiration of the Whol« World."
The economic policy of Yugoslavia even has poets among people
connected with Slobodna Rec, such as Dushan Popovich, Chicago, 111.,
whose poem The Five- Year Plan is published in the Slobodna Rec of
September 13, 1947.
Situation critical * * * but not in Yugoslavia. — In the Slobodna
Rec of October 11, 1947, a long article is published on Yugoslavia,
signed by Milan Polovina, who returned to America after spending 3
months in that country. As usual, the opportunity is taken to draw
a parallel between a Socialist country and the capitalist United States
of America, which always ends in condemnation of the United States.
Polovina says :
When after much trouble I finally obtained a passport for Yugoslavia, our
authorities warned me that I was traveling on my own responsibility since
98330 — 50 — pt. 2 13
646 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
in Yugoslavia the situation was so critical that the American authorities would
not guarantee my security.
I wonder from what sources our authorities are getting their information, but
I found that such information was wrong, since the situation in Yugoslavia not
only is not critical but is much more stable and normal than for instance in
Italy, which is under the protection of America.
After singing the praises of the Yugoslav industry, education, trans-
port organization, agriculture, and general reconstruction, Polovina
goes on saying :
Unemployment, that sword of Damocles which is constantly hanging over
the heads of the working people and darkening the joy of life in capitalist
countries, does not exist in new Yugoslavia.
Polovina admits that there is great scarcity of certain goods, owing
to the drouglit, but there, too, America has its share of responsibility :
The people's authorities have, for instance, endeavored to buy wheat and pota-
toes from us in America, but they were refused, although at that time we had
so many potatoes that we destroyed hundreds of carloads. The reasons for which
wheat and potatoes were refused to Yugoslavia are obvious to everyone, and there
is no need to give them here.
As for political rights and liberties in Yugoslavia, Polovina admits
that^
many priests are in jail, as well as peasants, government employees, lawyers,
etc. —
but strongly refutes all "stories" about the persecution of the Church in
Yugoslavia, since all these people were jailed
because they worked against the new people's authorities. Those people are angry
and protesting, but Kardelj ^ very rightly said of them: "The dogs bark, but the
caravan goes on."
As regards the new regime in Yugoslavia, the author of the article
says that during his 3 months' stay he
was able to ascertain that the present people's authorities are based on granite
foundations and that no reaction can shake it, be it domestic, foreign, or combined.
Writing before the Cominform-Tito clash, Polovina says emphati-
cally :
The people's leadership and the people's authorities in Yugoslavia, with the
great statesman and glorious soldier Mar.shal Tito at their head, cannot and will
not desist from the road which they are following until they realize a new and
more joyful life for all peoples in Yugoslavia.
Yes,
concludes Polovina,
the situation is critical indeed, but not in the Federative People's Republic of Yugo-
slavia.
Yugofdavia must not he criticized. — According to the Slobodna Rec
of October 22, 1947, page 3, Anton Gerlach, executive secretary of the
American Association for Reconstruction in Yugoslavia, on the occa-
sion of a solemn dinner in honor of 70 Yugoslav "returners" ^ to
Yugoslavia, went as far as to warn them against any criticism of
Yugoslavia :
Brothers, when you get to Yugoslavia, beware of those who are critical of the
state of affairs in Yugoslavia. * * * They are the remnants of old exploiters
and oppressors of Yugoslav peasants and workers. * * * They will complain
that there is no freedom in Yugoslavia. They will ask you how they could get to
America and otiier things.
^ Edvard Kardelj, vice premier of Yugoslavia.
^ The term "returners" is used to describe immigrants in this country who have returned
to Yugoslavia and other Communist-controlled countries under a Communist-sponsored
repatriation program.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 647
And now Gerlach warns about the state of affairs in America :
Tell tliem that the American people do not have the same opinion about Yugo-
slavia and other democratic countries as Truman, Marshall, Hoover, and Taft,
and others. Tell them that we have strong and powerful unions and millions of
organized workers.
For the /?eo/?7e.— Yugoslavia is repeatedly cited as a country with a
people's regime. So, m an article entitled "The London 1^'og," by
Dushan M. Peyovich (wherein the author assails the short-sighted-
ness of the London people and the "reactionary press in America"),
it is said that :
In some countries, the last war of liberation brought about great changes
in the political structure and in the social life, so that today, especially in
Yugoslavia, the whole state apparatus is following the people's will.
Through this London Fog one can still see that a majority of the people of
that island have not yet started seeing with their own eyes and that they are
still lagging behind many peoples, for whom the last war opened the eyes and
showed what the popular masses are striving for (Slobodna Rec, Nov. 29, 1947,
p. 3).
No exploitation. — In a letter allegedly received from Yugoslavia by
Milovan Akika, Midland, Pa., and jpublished in the Slobodna Rec of
December 10, 1947, page 3, Yugoslavia is again set up as an example of
a country which has freed itself from the evils of capitalism:
Yugoslavia is being slandered because it is no longer possible in that country
for one person to enrich himself at the expense of another person and live on
tlie labor of others.
Reaction is powerless. — In a letter allegedly received from Yugo-
slavia by Jovo Skulich, Chicago, 111., and published in the Slobodna
Rec of December 24, 1917, page 3, Yugoslavia is pictured as a country
which has done away with reaction once and for all time :
As to what you write about enemies over there, I can tell you that we have them
here, too; I mean reaction. But our country has laid such firm foundations
for a new future and new life, that nobody, not even the strongest enemy, can
destroy it. * * *
Democracy in Yugoslavia compared to America. — ^In the Slobodna
Rec of May 29, 1948, a very long article is published under the title
"On Democracy in Yugoslavia" (p. 2) and "What Does Democracy
Mean in Yugoslavia" (p. 3). This article is the final part of an
article published in the periodical T & T, edited by Louis Adamic.
Slobodna Rec introduces the author, Donald L. Hesson, as a well-
known lawyer from Chicago.
His report is "a strong rebuke to the insidious slanders and fabrications of
the warmongers, American reactionaries, and the Chetnik-Ustashi ^ coalition.
Because of the attempt of some circles to prevent the people from getting an
objective picture and correct report of the real state of affairs in Yugoslavia,
we are publishing here the end of Mr. Hesson's article."
In his article Hesson says, among other things :
In America we argue that socialism with its attendant restrictions and regula-
tions is not democratic ; from the point of view of the average Yugoslav, however,
it is democratic ; it has brought him a greater measure of economic freedom and
security in terms of higher wages, more consumer goods, and increased educa-
tional, medical, and cultural facilities. * * *
1 Chetniks was the popular term used to describe the Royal Yugoslav Army in the Home-
land during the Nazi occupation which was under the leadership of the martyred Gen.
Draza Mihailovich. The Dstashi was the Fascist Party of Croatia.
648 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Comparing freedom in Yugoslavia with freedom in the United
States, Hesson says :
Freedom, according to the Yugoslav notion, is not static but a dynamic force
springing from tlie relationsliip between the individual and society. Since man
is born into a social group, they believe his freedom comes from participating ia
and becoming part of that group. Hence emphasis is laid upon those activities
which will draw the individual into the group and cause him to identify his in-
terests with the interests of the group as a whole. I noted that instead of using
the words "I" and "mine," most Yugoslavs said "we" and "ours." From this
basic notion, it is evident why the Yugoslavs in reorganizing their economy have
to a great extent eliminated economic competition for individual gain, and why
cooperation is emphasized instead.
On the other hand, the underlying idea in America is that man is born free,
hence it follows that any restriction imposed upon his "natural freedom" by the
social group in wliich he lives is a limitation or curtailment of freedom. Accord-
ingly, the individual thinks of freedom in terms of rights which must be wrenched
from society and tends to look upon the group interest as being hostile to his own.
This tends to create a conflict between the individual and the group and leads to
the individual seeking after security and power on an individual basis without
regard to the welfare of the group as a whole.
Individual initiative is encouraged in Yugoslavia, but — unlike in America, where
it is directed toward the accumulation of property even at the expense of others — •
there it is directed toward tlie advancement of the group as a whole. Recognition
oomes not from the size of a man's bank balance as is generally the case here, but
from the service he renders to the community. To the Yugoslavs, rugged indi-
vidualism and enterprise operated solely for personal gain constitute a force
which tends to destroy social values because it places property values above human
values. Whatever the essence of true human freedom may be, surely it must
include economic security and realization of comradeship.
Hesson admits some degree of persecution being applied in Yugo-
slavia, but is very quick to find excuses for the Yugoslav Communist
regime :
That it has dealt harshly by our standards with a few people, no one can deny;
but when viewed in the light of history and the efforts of other peoples in the past
to liberate themselves from the forces of oppression and exploitation, it is remark-
able that the cost has not been greater.
Workers are their otvn masters. — Not a single opportunity is missed
to show Americans how fine other countries are, because they are
countries of socialism. So in the Narodni Glasnik of July 8, 1947,
(p. 2) , Anton Minerich, in one of his articles from his journey through
Yugoslavia, writes :
These miners worked before for foreign owners and now they are masters of
their own mines, as they are masters of their own land.
People are the government. — In the same copy of Narodni Glasnik,
which never tires of emphasizing the conflict of the interests of the
American Government and the American people, carries (p. 5) a two-
column headline over a letter allegedly received from Yugoslavia by
Steve Miletich (Braco), South Chicago, 111. :
With us it is easy to agree with the government since the whole people are the
government.
In another letter published in the same issue of the same news-
eiper — which is, in the same way as the Slobodna Rec and the
aily Worker, constantly assailing the reactionary press of America —
a young man is quoted as writing to his aunt in the United States.
Dear Aunt: Read the newspaper that writes what is true, and its name is
Narodni Glasnik.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 649
A little further, another letter allegedly from Yugoslavia is pub-
lished, evidently to make people in capitalist America think about the
wonders of socialism in practice :
Here all work is done, because everybody knows that he works for himself and
because we have full equality of rights and freedom.
And still further in the same issue of the same newspaper, a fourth
letter allegedly from Yugoslavia is published in which it is proclaimed
that—
The 5-year plan will bring well-being to our peoples,
Poioerful activity. — In the Narodni Glasnik of July 30, 1947, three
letters allegedly received from Yugoslavia by Terezia Marich, Canton,
Ohio, are published under the following titles :
"From the Letters of Our People in the Old Country, a Powerful Activity
and IClan Can Be Seen Through Which a Free Country Is Being Built."
"Factories Are Working Full Blast and Peasants Are Cultivating More and
More Land To Feed Themselves and the Workers in the Factories."
Old and neio Yugoslavia. — In the Narodni Glasnik of August 7,
1947, page 2, a report on "A Visit to the Yugoslav Ship Radnik''\ by
Petar Simrak, is published, in which the author describes his visit
with the ship's cook, who obviously tried to picture as strikingly as
possible the difference between the old and new regimes in Yugoslavia :
The difference between the life of sailors during the old regime in Yugoslavia
and today is enormous. In old Yugoslavia I had to cook separately for the ship's
captain, separately for the other ofHcers, separately for the crew, and separately
for myself ; whereas today, by golly, we all eat out of the same pot, and we are
all satisfied.
While the cook was telling this story an officer came in and asked the cook
for a few plates. "There they are; take them and carry them," replied the
cook.
Following is an excerpt from a letter allegedly received from Yugo^
slavia by Peter Buneta, St. Louis, Mo., published in the Narodni
Glasnik of August 11, 1947, page 4 :
The people are building their country enthusiastically. Many people before
the war tliought of Yugoslavia as a countiy where uncivilized people live, people
unable to live by themselves, who should be ruled by foreigners, etc. But the
people pulled themselves together at a certain moment; they did not want to be
exploited any longer, but wanted to be free and their land and their country to
belong to them.
We are not the least disturbed by Truman's policy, by Churchill's wish to
divide Europe, by speeches of DeGaulle,* by the wishes of De Gasperi.^ We
know them well ; they cannot deceive us, because we have suffered enough
and shaken off our yoke, so that nobody can again bring us to the state of affairs
which existed earlier.
Sorry they left Yugoslavia. — In the Narodni Glasnik of August 15,
1947, page 3, an article was published, signed by Katarina Luchich,
under the heading "The Refugees Are Cursing the Gentlemen W\\o
Deceived Them," which contains excerpts from letters allegedly
written by persons who fled from Yugoslavia and now regret that
they did so.
Our teaclieT and savior., Tito. — In the same issue of the Narodni
Glasnik (p. 4), a letter allegedly received from Yugoslavia by S.
Busich, South Chicago, 111., is published, in which it is said :
Our Marshal Tito is good for the people. He is our teacher and our savior and
creator of F. P. R. Yugoslavia. This Government of ours is and will be doing
* Gen. Charles de Gaulle, leader of the French wartime resistance movement.
* Alcide de Gasperi, Prime Minister of Italy.
650 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
wonrlers for us working people. [This was, however, before the Cominform-Tito
clash.]
Notohere in the world. — In an article wherein she describes lier trip
on the Yugoslav ship Radnik from New York to Canada, Mary Perkins
(Babin) says:
I think that nowhere in the world is there such comradely behavior and work-
ing 61an as on this Yugoslav ship (Narodni Glasnik, September 3, 1947, p. 3).
No clothing, hut democratic freedom. — In the Narodni Glasnik of
September 8, 1947 (p. 4), a letter is published allegedly received from
Slovenia (Yugoslavia) by Lynn Whitney, "famous radio actress" in
Hollywood, from her nephew. After asking for old clothing ("if you
have some old clothing for me and my wife, we shall gladly accept it") ,
he goes on to say :
We enjoy today pure democratic freedom, under the leadership of our Marshal
Tito. * * *
Today people of leisure and exploiters do not belong' to our just and working
state. We have the watchword 'all for one and one for all" — believe me * * *
that the big capitalists hate us and invent anything to harm us.
The bourgeoisie does not like our regime, because it sees that everyone is
receiving what he earns, that nobody has any other master but the state, which is
the people themselves. The bourgeoisie is slandering us, because it sees that we
are united. It would like the gentlemen again to be at the lielm. We will not let
them. As long as we have our leader, Marshal Tito, the capitalistic hopes to rule
people will not come true. * * *
Please give this letter to some periodical to publish it, so that the workers of
America might see that what their press writes about us is not true.
Charges false. — In the Narodni Glasnik of September 15, 1947 (p. 3) ,
the Yugoslav regime is defended against the charge of godlessness:
Dear Aunt: Do not believe that we do not go to church and that we do not
believe in God. [Excerpt from a letter allegedly received from Yugoslavia.]
Freedom in Yugoslavia and America. — In a letter allegedly received
from Yugoslavia by Kata Basich, Cleveland, Ohio, and published
in the Narodni Glasnik of September 15, 1947, page 4, a parallel is
drawn between progress and freedom in Yugoslavia and in the United
States :
In the 5-year plan everything is foreseen that has to be done every day, week,
month, year, etc. * * *
Once the 5-year plan is piit into effect, I believe that even the Americans will
envy us. Not for our wealth, because we are still much poorer, but for the pace
of our progress and self-help.
If only the warmongers would leave us in peace we would progress very
quickly. * * *
Foreign newspapermen who are on the side of the capitalists shout that there
is no freedom with us. Yes: with us there is no freedom for those who would
like to sell us. to use us for some loan, and that we afterward work for foreigners
as in chains, just for a piece of bread. Freedom with us is better than in America,
where you may perhaps write everything, but you must not think of a better
life. * * *
Following is an excerpt from a letter allegedly received from Yugo-
slavia by Marko Krnjich of Gary, Ind., and published in the Narodni
Glasnik of September 17, 1947, page 4 :
The people themselves work, the people decide, the people themselves enjoy
their property in complete freedom.
A new world. — Yugoslavia is sometimes pictured in the Narodni
Glasnik as a "new world," different from what the world has been for
"thousand of years" (excerpts from the travel with the second group
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 651
of "returners" to Yugoslavia published in the Narodni Glasnik, Octo-
ber 1,1947).
Comrade Jardas said, among other things, that we who return home are not
returning to the old country which we left dozens of years ago, but to a new
world which is ruled today by those who were oppressed, exploited, and humili-
ated for thousands of years. * * *
We travelers saw and felt that new world, about which comrade Jardas
spoke, immediately. On the ship there is a new spirit, a new atmosphere,
entirely different from the one in which we lived in Canada and America. The
commandant and the crew of the ship are people from our workers' ranks, who
think the same way as we workers do — very friendly, hospitable, modest, and
eympathetic. They do not consider themselves to be above us. but one of us.
Strikes in America^ reconstruction in Yugoslavia. — In the Narodni
Glasnik of October 10, 1947, page 4, again a parallel is drawn between
Communist Yugoslavia and the capitalistic United States (excerpts
from a letter allegedly received from Yugoslavia by Djuro Brkljacic,
McKees Rocks, Pa.) :
The life in our country, which has been much ravaged and plundered by
various enemies of our peoples, is not bad, as .you are informed b.v the McCormick
and Hearst press.
I read often in the newspapers about strikes with you and also hear it over
the radio. With us there are no strikes ; the people, the youth especially, are
participating in masses in the work of reconstruction of our devastated home-
land, and you have heard about our youth railway lines, Brcko-Banovici and
Samac-Sarajevo, at which, besides our youth, the youth from all the world
worked.
Neio tyj)e democracy., without American exploiters. — Even
more outspoken is the criticism of the United States, as well as
of Canada, contained in another letter, allegedly received from Yugo-
slavia by Frank Celicek, McKees Rocks, Pa., from his daughter, Bar-
bara Krcelic, who returned to Yugoslavia with the Yugoslav ship
Radnik (Narodni Glasnik, October 16, 1947, p. 3) :
I really would never like to go back to Canada or America. Here the stand-
ard of living is, of course, lower than in America, but we are building something
huge, great — a beautiful and happy future. We are building a workers' state ;
when we shall have built our industry, then the worker here will really be a
happy man. We live all the same way. There is no privileged class which
would live at the expense of others.
Our country has changed completely, or rather the relations between people
and work has changed radically. * * *
Throughout the struggle for the liberation of our peoples, we at the same time
were creating a new social order in our country; we were creating a state of
the working people in which all the power derives from the people and belongs
to the people. That is one of the greatest victories of our struggle — the creation
of our true people's government, government of the working people of towns and
villages. * * *
All land is distributed to the peasants. There are no more feudal estates
in our country. All industry is nationalized ; it belongs to the working people.
The banks, the means of transportation, mineral riches, and in general all
natural riches belong to society. Forever is liquidated the capitalist class,
oppressor of the working masses, and the working masses have become the
ruling factor of the country. * * ♦
We have created a new type of state and democracy in which all power, as
foreseen in the Constitution, derives from the people and belongs to the people.
Can there be more democratism than in our people's government, or can you say
that you in America have such a democracy? It is true that your Constitution
gives formulas and rights to the citizens of the United States, but these rights
remain only on paper, they cannot be won, because the influence of the monopo-
lies and capital does not permit the working masses to take part in the Govern-
ment. * * *
652 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
During the war I performed the duty of a political commissar in our partisan
army, and now I am captain of our heroic army — an army such as no country
has, which is ready to fight for the salvation of all freedom-loving man-
kind. * * *
I believe that you are getting various news about our country, that our enemies
(the American reactionaries) want to picture our country in a different way
from what it really is. We know that very well, but that will not disturb us the
least in our struggle for a better life for the working masses and in our efforts
to create well-being for people who create and work, and, on the other hand, to
make impossible the return to power of the capitalist clique, which was sitting
on the back of our people and carrying away the fruits of their work. That is
what the American capitalists do not like, because we do not allow them to make
out of our country a semicoionial and deiicndent country which they could ex-
ploit to their will. They had such opportunities during the old regime in Yugo-
slavia, * * * but now that the new Yugoslavia does not tolerate that, then
it is not good, there is no democracy in it, etc. (Excerpts from a letter allegedly
received from Yugoslavia by Joe Fabian, Narodni Glasnik, October 16, 1947, p. 5.)
No oppression or exploitation. — In an article written by M. J.
Brzovic, Chicago, to commemorate the second anniversary of the
proclamation of the F. P. R. Yugoslavia, November 29, 1945, and
published in the Narodni Glasnik of October 16, 1947, page 6, it is said :
This is the day when the fate of all those who for years and centuries op-
pressed and exploited our people was sealed. This is the day which gave to
the people of Yugoslavia the opportunity to make through the 5-year plan a
backward agricultural country into a modern industrial country which will
satisfy all people's needs.
New democracy. — The Narodni Glasnik of June 11, 1948, also re-
printed, under the title "What Democracy Means in Yugoslavia," an
important excerpt from the article of Donald L. Hesson, a Chicago
attorney, published in Louis Aclamic's periodical T & T. The author
describes "the new democracy" in Yugoslavia as "the desire of the peo-
ple to build a new society and their spirit of cooperation."
The Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik Ad not show the slight-
est inclination to understand democracy in America such as it is,
but readily opened their columns to Hesson, who declares :
I begin to understand democracy from the Yugoslav point of view.
IV. STAND or THE SLOBODNA REC AND NAKODNI GLASNIK ON THE
COMINFORM-TITO CLASH
It might be assumed that this enthusiasm and the complete devotion
to Yugoslavia derive from the sentimental attachment of "progres-
sive" American Serbs and Croats to the country of their birth. But
that is not the case. The "progressive" Serbs gathered around the Slo-
bodna Rec represent the lowest percentage of "progressives" in any
Slavic national groups in America — around 5 percent. And that mi-
nority is not made up of people who love the old country, cherish the
memories of their national past, respect the traditions and cultural
heritage of their ancestors; neither are they people who supposedly
relinquished all the links with the old country in order to embrace
America wholeheartedly and become good Americans.
"Progressive" American Serbs are people whose attitude toward
Yugoslavia always depended only upon the regime in it or, to put it
more precisely, on the attitude of the regime in Yugoslavia toward the
Soviet Union. So, owing to such changes, there can be observed three
distinct phases of the "progressive" Serbs' attitude toward
Yugoslavia :
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 653
(a) Before World War II. — It is a well-known fact that Yugo-
slavia was one of the most thoroughly anti-Communist countries and
one of the few countries which — until 1940, when, under the threat
of Nazi Germany^ relations were established — did not even maintain
diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. The newspaper Slobodna
Rec, which is identical with the "Serbian Progressive Movement,"
adopted from its very beginning, in 1934, an attitude of utmost enmity
against the existing order in Yugoslavia.
In Yugoslavia, before World War II, as in any country where there
is some freedom of thought and expression, many patriots and demo-
crats were critical of the government's policies. But the arguments
of those people were always distinctly different from the Communists'
criticisms. While the first criticized in order to eradicate some evils
and thus strengthen the country which had to face the formidable
threat of Nazi Germany, the Communists did their best to formulate
their criticism and launch slogans so as to demoralize, to spread
defeatism, weaken the inner power of resistance of the country, and
create confusion and chaos — the ideal ground for communism. The
democratic opposition was criticizing the government's policy for
not being democratic enough or for failing to equip militarily the
nation to resist any attack on its independence. The Communists'
criticism was following the usual destructive pattern which, with a
few adaptations, is applied to any country of the globe which is not
Communist and does not strictly obey Moscow's orders. The Commun-
ists contended that the peasants were economically ruined and cul-
turally backward owing to the lack of interest on the part of the regime
and the greed of the capitalists ; that the wages were too low and the
w^orkers did not enjoy any social care or security; that the capitalists,
domestic and foreign, drew huge profits, in contrast to the misery of
the broad masses of the pe/Dple ; that the "tyranny of King Alexander"
and the "great Serbian hegemony" had deprived the people of its civil
rights; that a powerful ''military clique" was exercising an over-
whelming influence on the state affairs, and so forth.
After Hitler's rise to power, the Communists applied in all countries
of the world their Trojan-horse tactics of anti-Fascist people's fronts,
which were adopted at the Seventh Congress of the Communist Inter-
national— Comintern — in July 1935. As everywhere else in the world,
these tactics put the Communists in the position of influencing more
strongly the democratic forces in their political thinking and action.
Nevertheless, in Yugoslavia no people's front was formed, and the line
of democratic opposition remained different from the communistic.
The Slobodna Rec from the very beginning assumed the Communist
stand, and until Tito's rise to power it remained basically inimical to
the Yugoslav Government.
(b) From Titoh rise to power until the Cominforrti-Tito clash. —
But when the old capitalistic order was eliminated in Yugoslavia and
Tito firmly installed in power, the Slobodna Rec, as can be seen from
the quoted examples, executed a complete about-face; and its attitude
toward the regime in Yugoslavia became one of complete approval,
lavish praise, and entire solidarity. All of a sudden everything became
all right in Yugoslavia. Owing to the communistic interpretation,
the people had taken its destiny in its own hands; all political, social,
economic, and cultural problems were to be solved in the best way.
The foreign policy particularly was satisfactory since, instead of
654 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
running against the people's will, that is, with the western democra-
cies— it was based on the closest collaboration with the Soviet
Government..
Overnight, the "progressive" American Serbs around the Slobodna
Rec, American Slav Congress, and similar organizations had become
Yugoslav patriots, such patriots that they forgot they were Americans.
The same can be said of progressive American Croats, in spite of
some differences which exist between the two groups. Namely, the per-
centage of "progressives" among American Croats is much higher than
among American Serbs. Then the Narodni Glasnik is a much older
progressive newspaper than the Slobodna Rec and thus with a much
older militant background than the Slobodna Rec. But their criteria,
their yardsticks, are the same. As a result, progressive American
Serbs feel uncomfortable because of their rather poor "progressive"
record and class-consciousness; "progressive" American Croats
proudly proclaim that in the American Slav Congress the Croats have
"always been and are today the strongest group and the greatest sup-
port * * * to the work of the Congress." (See Narodni Glasnik
of December 1, 1948, Report of Mary Sumrak.)
Mirko Markovich wrote, after his return to Yugoslavia (The
Struggle in America for a New Yugoslavia, Belgrade, 1940, p. 24) :
The organized workers' revolutionary movement * * * -was composed
mainly of Croatian workers. The Serbs numbered only a few hundred.
Anyway, the period when the Soviet Government approved of the
regime in Yugoslavia was also the period of boundless Yugoslav
nationalism on the part of progressive American Serbs and Croats. A
few examples make this point clear :
1. Perhaps the most striking example of the ideas of the people
gathered in the American Slav Congress and other "progressive" or-
ganizations of Americans of Slavic descent is to be found in the an-
nouncement of a great picnic of the American Slav Congress, Midwest
division, held on July 7, 1946. After saying that Slav dishes will be
served by girls in Slav costumes, it announces :
One part of the proceeds is destined for the American-Slav Congress ; and the
other, to the orphans of Stalingrad.
Stalingrad and the sacrifices of its citizens for the whole world must be to
every Slav what Thermopylae and Marathon are to the Greeks and Valley Forge
and Bunker Hill are to the Americans.
Such an interpretation casts also a revealing light on the announce-
ment that George Pirinsky, executive secretary of the American Slav
Congress, will speak of the future work of the congress and how
important a role it has played in the past. ( Slobodna Rec, January 29,
1946, p. 4.)
2. On Independence Day, 1946, the Croatian organizations
united in the Croatian National Council held a celebration. However,
they did not celebrate the greatest American national holiday, but they
proclaimed it "Croatian day" and distributed medals of the Yugoslav
Red Cross to deserving persons, who distinguished themselves with
their industrious work in collecting aid for the peoples of Yugoslavia.
A queer way for Americans to celebrate the greatest American na-
tional holiday.
3. In the announcement of the Serbian Congress in Pittsburgh
on August 31 and September 1, 1946, an appeal is launched to give as
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 655
much help as possible for the Serbian people in the old country and
cheers are addressed to the brotherhood and unity of the southern
Slavs, as well as to the forthcoming congress, but the United States as
such is not mentioned.
4. In the announcement of the Third American Slav Congress,
September 20, 21, and 22, 1946, it is said that "for the first time will
come delegates from all brotherly nations" and that brotherhood is con-
fined to Yugoslavia, U. S. S. R., Czechoslovakia, and Poland, which
all happen to be Communist-dominated. It is explained that such a
congress "will be an important factor in America and in the world for
the safeguarding of world peace and the best link between America and
the Slav countries" (Slobodna Rec, September 7, p. 1) .
5. The American-Serb Democratic Club, Cleveland, Ohio, celebrat-
ing the twelfth anniversary of the Slobodna Rec on December 1, 1946,
invites "all brother Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, and Macedonians, as well
as all friends of progress" (Slobodna Rec, November 27, 1946).
There is no mention of their American fellow citizens. Presumably
because they consider, according to their ideas and conceptions of
progress, America as a backward country and Americans as enemies of
progress.
6. In an appeal to collect donations for people in Yugoslavia,
especially in Lika — northwestern part of Yugoslavia — the organizer
explains :
Brother Yugoslavs, do not think that I am singling out Lika from the other
parts of Yugoslavia. The whole of Yugoslavia is dear to me and close to my
heart, as well as the whole world, but I like Lika best.
It is noteworthy that a man with such a big heart did not find, be-
tween Yugoslavia and the whole world, a place for America, the
country where he lives, whose citizenship he most probably has ac-
quired, and where he intends to collect gifts for Yugoslavia (Slobodna
Rec, December 4, 1946, p. 3 ) .
7. In an invitation to a concert whose proceeds are to help war or-
phans in Yugoslavia, "all Slavs" and all "friends of the Yugoslav
people" are invited. Americans are not mentioned. If the term
"friends of the Yugoslav people" is sufficient for this, then what is the
reason for singling out "all Slavs" and even putting them first
(Slobodna Rec, December 31, 1946, p. 4) .
8. Slobodna Rec of December 31, 1946, published the announce-
ment of a certain V. Albianich, who makes known that he has bought 22
Yugoslav-American Communist almanacs and will send them "to all
the six republics of our glorious Federative People's Republic of Yugo-
slavia."
In Yugoslav "progressive" newspapers, it is not often that one can
find the possessive pronoun "our" referred to America. As for the
adjective "glorious," one can never see it in the Slobodna Rec or Nar-
odni (rlasnik connected with any other country but the Soviet Union
and the Communist world.
9. In an account of the Second Congress of American Croats in
Cleveland, April 13, 1947 (Slobodna Rec, April 24, 1947, p. 2), it is
said:
The Croatian Congress manifested its feelings of brotherhood and unity among
American Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrines, and IMacedonians, and also
with other American Slavs gathered in the American Slav Congress.
656 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
On this occasion not even all Slavs are mentioned, not to speak of
Americans, regardless of national or racial origin.
(c) The Cominform-Tito dash. — But then came the Cominform-
Tito clash, which inaugurated a third phase in the attitude of the
Slobodna Rec and the Narodni Glasnik toward Yugoslavia, in which
the unconditional adherence of "progressive" American Serbs and
Croats to the Moscow line can be best observed by comparing the news
and articles on that issue published in these two newspapers with those
published in the Daily Worker.
The news about the clash was published in the Daily Worker of
June 29, 1948, under the title "Cominform Raps Tito; Says Yugoslav
Communist Party Heads Committed Anti-Soviet Acts, Stifled De-
mocracy." In an editorial — page 2 — the Daily Worker commented
on the Cominform's declarations, immediately taking position in the
issue :
The eommnnique issued by the Communist Tiiformntinn Bureau * * * is
a document which rests foursquare on the precepts of democracy and the unity
of nations for peace.
The Slobodna Rec published the news in its issue of June 20, under
the title "The Cominform Sharply Criticizes the Communist Leader-
ship of the F. P. R. of Yugoslavia," carrying the same communication
as the Daily Worker.
The Narodni Glasnik published the news in its issue of June 30 in
a page-wide headline : The Cominform criticizes Tito ; the Cominform
criticizes the leadership of the CPY ^ ; sharp criticism leveled at Mar-
shal Tito, Kardelj, Djilas, and Rankovic,- carrying a long report on
pages 1 and 3, w^hich is practically a literal reproduction of the report
published in the Daily Worker of June 29.
Under this main article, a commentary is published under the title
"The Cominform Criticizes Yugoslavs in Yugoslavia," which bears
strong resemblance to the Daily Worker editorial of June 29, page 2.
In its issue of June 30, the Daily Worker published the full text of
the Cominform declaration, as well as the statement of William Foster
and Eugene Dennis, chairman and executive secretary of the Commu-
nist Party in the United States, respectively, greeting the Cominform
declaration :
In our country, as everywliere in the world, the forces struggling for peace rec-
ognize that its cornerstone is friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union,
whose influence is felt increasingly among freedom-loving people in every land.
Besides the news that "Yugoslav CP refuses to accept criticism" and
"Czech CP says Cominform action aids world socialism," the Daily
Worker carries two columns in which the orthodox Communist view,
binding for Communists all over the world, is voiced ; namely, that the
Cominform, as always, was right. From the first moment, the Daily
Worker endeavored to define carefully and precisely what the clash was
about, what were Tito's mistakes and deviations, and what was the
correct view to be adopted by every true Marxist. It is thus interesting
to quote its editorials as well as its columnists.
In his article, the Lessons of Yugoslavia, Joseph Starobin says :
Our problem remains to study the facts of our own country's life, to deal with
our own national peculiarities boldly and imaginatively, but in terms of a basic
^ Communist Party of Yugoslavia.
2 Edvard Kardelj, Vice Premier of Yugoslavia ; Milovan Djilas, minister without port-
folio, and Alexander Rankovic, minister of interior (which includes the secret police).
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 657
theory valid for capitalism as a whole and for our entire era. That is the Yugo-
slav lesson.
The other commentator, Milton Howard, entitles his article "Self-
Criticism — A Creation of Marxist Democracy" and says, "The Comin-
form communique seeks more democracy and, through that democracy,
a genuinely Communist struggle for peace."
In the clays following, the Daily Worker went on clarifying the
Communist stand in the matter. Josef Starobin, in his column Mar-
shal Tito's Self-Indictment, July 1, 1948, stated that—
The issue is not, as the capitalist commentators say, betvpeen the authority
of the Soviet Communists and the desire of the Yugoslavs for independence.
Tito's attitude toward discussion shows that the issue was one of democratic dis-
cipline, which is elementary for Communists and all progressive organizational
life.
* * * and now comes the call from Belgrade that the Yugoslav Communists
rally around their leaders which also contains a veiled threat of force and the
provocative appeal for a Balkan federation. Everybody knows that the Soviet
Union rejected such a federation as unwise. Tito's call now belies his preten-
sion of friendship for the Soviet Union. All this indicates something exceed-
ingly corrupt in Belgrade. The document amounts to a shifty and unconvincing
defense to the effect of self-indictment.
The Communist view that there is but one loyalty for any "progres-
sive" in any part of the world, the loyalty to the Soviet Union, and
consequently only one betrayal, hostility to the Soviet Union, is very
clearly expressecl in the editorial "A Tito-Washington Deal?":
The State Department sees a chance to buy Yugoslavia's independence. That
is a straw in the wind which shows how right the Cominform criticism is. Tito's
hospitality to the Soviet Union, despite hypocritical phrases, is working out
inevitably as betrayal of Yugoslavia.
The Slobodna Rec of July 3, 1948, carries a large headline "The
leadership of CPY^ rejects the sharp criticism of the Cominform."
The news published thereunder is partly a literal translation of the
Daily Worker of June 30, page 3, under the title "Yugoslav CP Re-
fuses To Accept Criticism," and the rest is a resiune of the Daily
Worker's article.
The article The Czech CP says Cominform Declaration Aids Social-
ism is somewhat shorter, but obviously a translation of the same news
published in the Daily Worker, June 30, page 3.
The article The Bulgarians Back the Cominfonn's Declaration is a
translation of the same item published in the Daily Worker on July 1,
1948, page 3.
The article Trieste Communists Back the Cominform Movement
is a literal translation of the same news published in the Daily Worker
of July 2, 1948, page 11.
The article Albania Blasts Tito's Policy is composed of literal ex-
cerpts from the same news published in the Daily Worker of July 2,
1948, page 3.
The Slobodna Rec did not fail to inform its readers that "The Amer-
ican CP greeted the Cominform committee" and to publish excerpts
from the Foster-Dennis statement in the Daily Worker of June 30,
page 3.
The same issue of Slobodna Rec carries also the news "Jacques
Duclos says that Tito is becoming a tool of imperialism," which is a
^ Yugoslav Communist I'arty
658 COMRIUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
quotation from Diiclos' article in the French Communist organ
L' Humanite wherein he concludes :
It is evident indeed that if you provoke the Soviet Union, you become a tool
in the hands of imperialist leaders.
The Slobodna Rec reproduces this item verbatim from the Daily
Worker of July 2, page 11.
Still the same issue of the Slobodna Rec (July 3, 1948) carries an
editorial about the Cominf orm communique reading :
In order that our readers be best acquainted with the misunderstanding which
brolve out between the CPY and the Communist Party in Europe, we are pub-
lishing in this issue, the complete text of the Communist Information Bureau's
communique, in which the attitude and policy of the CPY are most severely
criticized. * * *
Because of this public criticism of the wrong policy of Yugoslav Communist
leaders, the reaction is overwhelmed with joy. * * *
The circles of reaction want to utilize this conflict between the Yugoslav and
other European Communists for their hellish war plans.
At this point, it is interesting to draw a parallel between the edi-
torials of the Slobodna Rec, on the one side, and the Daily Worker
and the Foster-Dennis statement, on the other side:
SLOBODNA EEC DAILY WORKER
The peoples of Yugoslavia have over- The crisis is so far gone that only
come many difliculties and hardships the Yugoslav people themselves can
and there is no reason to doubt that the overcome it (Josef Starobin : Mar-
people of Yugoslavia will, on this oc- shall Tito's Self-Indictment, Daily
casion as well, find the solution which Worker, July 1, p. 8).
will be profita'ble to Yugoslavia and the In our country, as everywhere in the
world peace. * * * world, the forces struggling for peace
We American Serbs, as well as other recognize that its cornerstone is friend-
Americans, condemn all attempts to ship and cooperation with the Soviet
start a new war. We are against war Union, whose influence is felt increas-
and we desire friendly relations and a ingly among freedom-loving peoples in
better understanding with all peace- every land (Foster-Dennis statement,
loving peoples. The key to the realiza- Daily Worker, June 30, p. 3).
tion of a stable world peace lies in an
understanding between our country and
Russia.
That is why the warmongers are
making all sorts of intrigues to make
impossible an understanding between
America and the Soviet Union.
The Worker of Julj^ 4, 1948 (southern edition) , publishes additional
news about the "Cominform-Tito Clash" and again puts the stress on
the clarification of the clash according to the Moscow angle. In an
article "What It's About" (p. 4) it is said :
The Tito leadership of anti-Soviet position is being used as a cover-up for the
betrayal of socialism in Yugoslavia. * * *
Tbe State Department and the Marshall planners * ♦ * are fishing in the
Balkans for deals to betray socialism, * * *
It is a tribute to the alertness of the Communist Parties of the Soviet Union,
France, Italy, etc., that they saw this degeneration of the Tito leadership in
time, and boldly informed the world's working class of the facts.
In the same issue of the Worker, Milton Howard further interprets
the "Cominform-Tito Clash" in the sense of "Communist democracy in
action via self-criticism" after expounding that the leaders of the
CPY went "off the beam," because they failed to build the CPY as a
new type party. Howard concludes :
What makes the Communist Parties a "new type is that they are not merely
parliamentary parties, whose main function is to elect representatives to capi-
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 659
talist-dominated parliaments or congresses, but also to act at all times as the
guide, the vanguard, of the entire working class and other progressive groups of
the country.
The Daily Worker of July 7, 1948, pcage 3, published an article en-
titled: "Slavs Here Hit ERP Fishing in Yugoslavia," wherein the
radio speech of George S. Wuchinich, executive secretary of the Ameri-
can Slav Congress of western Pennsylvania is recorded. Wuchinich :
warned * * * yesterday that the commercial press is happy over the Yugo-
slav situation because "it fits into their plan for war." * * *
"Whatever makes the American warmongers joyous does not reflect what is
good for the average American. We want peace — the turn of events in Yugo-
slavia is grave."
The Daily Worker goes on quoting in bold-faced print Wuchinich's
warning :
"The Marshall planners," he continued, "with their press and radio bait are
fishing in troubled waters to catch the big fish — a nation, and bring her back
to the fold of free entei'pi'ise as a colony. If necessary, war may be used — the
smell of blood is in the air."
Voicing the same view as the Daily Worker, Wuchinich puts stress,
not on the Yugoslav Tito regime, but on the Yugoslav people to settle
the difficulties :
"The solution to the problems of socialism" Wuchinich declared, "must be
worked out by the Yugoslav people. Any nation that is moving in this direction,"
he warned "is not a friend of those here at home who want an American world of
colonies. These are the monopolists who dislike any free and independent coun-
try working out its salvation without the help of bankers, generals, and admirals
in New York and Washington. The people of Yugoslavia, their resources and
their land, are a great prize that whets the appetite of Wall Street."
The Narodni Glasnik of July 7, 1948, page 2, gave publicity to the
same radio broadcast by Wuchinich under the title, "American
Monopolists AVish by Means of the Yugoslav Clash To Trouble Waters
for Imperialist Fishing." Beneath was printed a subtitle, "George
Wuchinich severely assails the press and radio in connection with the
clash in Yugoslavia."
The same issue of the Daily Worker (July 7, 1948, p. 1), carries
the headline, "Tito's Men Expel Writer for Reporting Criticism,"
about the expulsion of Telepress correspondent, June Cannon.
This news was reproduced verbatim in the Narodni Glasnik, July 8,
1948, page 1, under the title, "The Yugoslav Ministry of Interior Ex-
pels Telepress Agency Correspondent from Belgrade."
In the same issue, the Narodni Glasnik publishes (on p. 1) the news
that, "The Communist Party of the USSR Rejected Invitation to
Fifth Congress of Yugoslav Communist Party," which is, in some-
what shortened form, the translation of the article, "Soviet Communist
Party Rejects Bid To Yugoslav Meet," published in the Daily Worker,
July 7, page 2.
Still in the same issue of the Daily Worker (July 7, 1948, p. 9),
Milton Howard continues his analysis of the Cominform-Tito clash in
an article entitled, "The Problems of Nationalism, Internationalism,
and Patriotism." Since this article contains very instructive revela-
tions as to the real character of Communist "loyalty," it is necessary
to quote it at some length.
[In Yugoslavia] a group of people have seized control of that country in the
name of communism but in actuality in defiance of the democratic principles of
communism * * *
660 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
For us, the independence of nations is crucial in the world today, since it is the
independence of nations which is most menaced by the terms of the Marshall
plan * * *_
A "Marshall plan" country takes orders from the United States — or else.
Howard presents the Communist concept of a nation sucli as defined
in the Communist manifesto in 1848. He says that there are two
esesntial proj^ositions, namely :
1. The working class has no country. You can't take from it what it has not
got.
2. The working class must "constitute itself as the nation."
* * * The minority capitalist class puts its class interests above that of
the nation. The working class has become, in all capitalist countries, the van-
guard in the defense of the nation's independence.
The workers of all capitalist countries have the same problems basically, the
same relations to the owners of industry, and the same need to aboli-sh private
property and establish socialism. Tliey have no antagonistic interests. [Italics
supplied.]
This is the basis of their internationalism, and the basis of the Marxist slogan,
"Workers of all nations unite."
But this internationalism does not abolish patriotism, love of country. On the
contrary, it is the only basis for true patriotism as distinguished from the false
patriotism of nationalism.
Nationalism places the interests of the nation above the interests of the work-
ing class and its allies — that is the majority of the people. What is this nation
when it conflicts with the interests of the working class and its allies? It is
nothing but the property rights of capitalism and the material interest of the
capitalist class and its allies. It is hostile to the real nation, the people * * •
This nationalism of the Tito regime is endangering the real national independ-
ence of Yugoslavia by opening the peril of outside of Marshall plan intervention,
and by creating the peril of sliding back to capitalism through a failure to build
a democratic Communist Party vanguard leading the nation toward socialism
through people's democracy.
In criticizing the Yugoslav leadership for its failure to build such a body and
such a policy of fraternal cooperation with other people's democracies and the
Soviet Union, the Cominform parties were striking a blow for national independ-
ence, national sovereignty and for socialism at one and the same time. Only
those who think that a nation cannot be independent except as a capitalist nation
dependent on the Marshall plan, have failed to grasp this.
After the confusion of the first few days after the Cominform-Tito
clash, the "progressive" American Serbs and Croats promptly lined
themselves up. Accordingly the Narodni Glasnik of July 8, 1948,
carried an editorial on the events in Yugoslavia in which it is said :
American Yugoslavs, friends of the new Yugoslavia had these days several
meetings at which they adopted resolutions which support the criticism of the
Cominform against Marshal Tito and the leadership of the Communist Party of
Yugoslavia. * * *
It is clear that the great majority of Americans of Yugoslav origin approve
of the criticism of the Cominform against the Yugoslav leadership.
Although the Narodni Glasnik still expresses the hope that the
Yugoslav Communists will admit their faults and improve the situa-
tion in Yugoslavia, they stress what they deem the essential thing :
Our people have confidence in the Soviet Union and its leadership.
In the Worker of July 11, 1948, on page 4, an article is published
under the title "What European Communists Say About Yugoslavs."
Here are quoted the views of French, Polish, Rumanian, Finnish, Al-
banian, Italian, and Czech Communists.
The Narodni Glasnik of July 12, 1948, page 1, publishes, under the
title "What European Communists Say About Yugoslav Commu-
nists," a two-column report from London which — but for two short
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 661
passages which ^yel•e omitted and one whicli was shortened — is a
verbatim transhition of the article "What European Communists Say
About Yugoslavs", published in the Worker of Julv 11.
In the Worker of July 11, 1948, the editorial "Tito's Tactics"
deals again with Tito's Communist heresy. The Communist Party of
Yugoslavia is quoted as saying:
With us, the party, the country, the central committee, the people's front, and
Tito are all one.
wdiich provokes the angry comments of the Worker :
This is the oi>en denial of inner party democracy, on the one hand, and the
utter abandonment of the Leninist conception of the party as distinct from all
other mass organizations acting as the highest form of the organization of the
working class.
The Narodni Glasnik of July 13, 1948, page 2, contains an article
by George Pirinsky, in which the author claims that :
Actually the sudden love of the warmongers for the present leadership of the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia indicates that something "is rotten in the state
of Denmark."
Until the end of the month, the Slobodna Rec and the Narodni Glas-
nik alw^ays carried the same news about the Cominform-Tito clash as
the Daily Worker. So, when the Daily Worker of July 13, page 4,
made known the stand of the Chinese Communists on the Cominform-
Tito clash, who assailed Tito, the Narodni Glasnik of July 13 pub-
lished the same news on page 1 and the Slobodna Rec did likewise in its
issue of July 17.
The Daily Worker of July 14 reported that the Yugoslav Com-
munists in New York had declared themselves against Tito. The same
news was published in the Narodni Glasnik of July 18.
Thus, the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik did not hesitate to
adopt quickly and thoroughly the "only correct" stand on the Comin-
form-Tito clash, the stand of Moscow, as expressed in the Daily
Worker, organ of the Communist Party of the United States, or com-
municated to them probably by more direct channels.
The Slobodna Rec, which for some time seemed to be reluctant to
let a Soviet authority say the decisive word on the dispute, in order to
preserve its semblance of an American newspaper, published in two
issues (December 18 and December 22, 1948) a very long article, "How
Tito's Clique Is Fighting Its Own People," written by L. Baranov,
"famous Soviet writer" who, of course, presented the official Moscow
viewpoint on the matter. And, without any reserve, the Slobodna
Rec endorses his views :
Baranov condemns the present leadership of Tito * * * he says that
Tito's group switched to the road of betrayal of the interests of the people and
country.
And the Slobodna Rec lets Baranov speak, "so that our readers
may get a better understanding of what is going on in Yugoslavia."
In his article, Baranov writes :
The present leaders of the Yugoslav Communist Party call themselves friends
of the Yugoslav people. * * *
Nothing can be further from the truth.
They are bourgeois nationalists, enemies of the working class.
What in reality has Tito * * * in common with the true leaders in the
Marxist sense of the word? Absolutely nothing. He is a stanch nationalist, old
fractionist, a spoiled person far from the people.
98330— 50— pi. 2 14
662 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
How can anybody who considers himself a Marxist neglect the theory and
practices of revolutionary struggle, confirmed by the experience of the inter-
national revolutionary movement, the experience of Socialist construction in
the Soviet Union? No, a true Marxist would not act that way. Only traitors
and enemies of the people do that.
Behind Tito comes the henchman Rankovic. Everybody knows that this gen-
tleman cannot boast either of his intelligence or his courage. * * *
He killed and tortured to death hundreds of Yugolsav Communists whose only
"crime" was that they wanted to march in the United Front with brotherly
Communist parties, and that they respected the Soviet Union, the country of
socialism.
The history of the Russian movement, as well as the history of the movement
of the working class, offers countless examples how political Philistines try to
lead the revolutionary party * * * but they usually went down and found
themselves in tlie junk yard of history. Such individuals inevitably wind up
in the camp of the reaction. They become the bitterest enemies of the working
class, renegades, traitors, and assassins, as the despicable renegades Bukharin
and Trotsky.^
The leaders of the Yugoslav Party did not take into consideration, or rather
did not want to take into consideration, the fact that the Communist Party of
Yugoslavia is not a private enterprise of Tito, biit the product of many years of
revolutionary struggle of the working class of Yugoslavia and of the interna-
tional movement of the working class. Just because of that, the Yugoslav leaders,
regardless of their deeds in the past, were not entitled to act toward the CPY
and the international Communist front in the v»'ay they did. The problems of
the Yugoslav working class and this party are also problems of the international
workers' movement and the wliole Communist front.
* * * The leadership of the Yugoslav Party drowned the party in the peo-
ple's front, which is, in the same way as the CPY, composed of representatives of
all classes of the present Yugoslav bourgeois society, including the Kulaks and
the bourgeois parties. It is only the workers' class that is able to achieve the
victory of socialism. Tito's clique, by rejecting the Marxist-Leninist teaching
that only the proletariat can play the role of a revolutionary leadm* and the
teacher of the people, now asserts that the peasantry is the main force for the
realization of socialism. Lenin and Stalin teach that only the workers' class,
the most revolutionary and organized part of modern society, is able to lead the
peasants on the road to socialism; that the working class must move in close
alliance with the working peasantry.
The champions of democracy and socialism throughout the world know that
only if tiiey rely on the mighty support of the Soviet Union and the new democ-
racies— that stronghold of peace and democracy — can socialism be built in coun-
tries where people's democracy has been installed. * * * Only incorrigible
nationalists, only persons who terribly hate the Soviet Union, the new democ-
racies, and the brotherly Communist parties would dare to follow the road to
treason. Only enemies of the Yugoslav people would dare deprive their own
people of the mighty support of the Soviet Union and the new democracies, * * *
Knowing that they cannot keep the people oppressed long enough by deceit,
Tito's clique has taken the road of open teri'orism, declaring war on their party
and people. * * * On the ground of the unwritten law of the henchman
Rankovic, the reading of Soviet literature and newspapers is punishable by arrest,
as in the days of the German Gestapo. * * *
There is no middle road : Either with the people, with the Soviet Union at the
head of the people and the new democracies, against the imperialists or, with the
imperialists against the forces of democracy and socialism, against the people.
Tito's clique has chosen this latter road.
As the other peoples of the world, the people of Yugoslavia see in the countries
of socialism, in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, their hope, their sup-
port in the struggle for the victory of socialism, for the victory of their ideas of
Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin. In the bitter years of Fascist occupation, old people
in Montenegro, while pointing with their fingers to the East, would say to their
grandchildren : 'There is Russia * * * the day will come when the Rus-
sians will arrive and we will be liberated.'
And the Soviet people has come and liberated the people of Yugoslavia from
slavery.
^ Nicolai Bukharin. former president of the Communist International, "purged" in
'treason trials" of 1937 ; Leon Trotslcy, assassinated in Mexico in 1940.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 663
Tito's clique betrayed the Yugoslav people, its strivings and hopes, but the
Yugoslav people and their party are not alone. They have true friends in the
Soviet Union, in the new democracies, in the great party of Lenin and Stalin and
in the brotherly Communist parties which represent a mighty invincible front of
democracy and socialism.
It is evidently easy to establish that Baranov's criticism of Tito, en-
dorsed by the Slobodna Rec, expressed exactly, as the Daily Worker's
editorials or its columnists Starobin and Howard, the Cominform, i, e.,
Kremlin viewpoint in the matter.
It is even more provocative to demonstrate how the change of the
stand of Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik on one particular prob-
lem— the Cominform-Tito clash — affected their stand on all problems
relative to Yugoslavia. Before the clash, these newspapers had noth-
ing but praise for the Communist regime in Yugoslavia, for Tito, for
the Yugoslav Government's policy in ail its aspects. But, since after
the Cominform-Tito clash Tito's Communist regime in Yugoslavia
was considered by the Kremlin as treacherous to the Soviet Union and
to the Communist cause, that view has pervaded all the articles of the
Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik. As much as the Yugoslav re-
gime was highly praised before, it is now denounced in the most
violent terms, as can be seen from examples to follow.
v. STAND OF THE SLOBODNA EEC AND NARODNI GLASNIK ON YTTGOSLAVIA
AFTER THE COMINFORM -TITO CLASH
Complete lack of responsibility. — In the Slobodna Rec of January
15, 1949, page 3, an article on Tito's contradictions is reprinted from
the Nova Borba (Prague) :
Complete lack of responsibility, * * * separation of Yugoslavia from the
Socialist camp carried out by. Tito's group is bringing the country in a catas-
trophic economic position and makes it dependent upon the imperialists. * . * *
And, since the Cominform-Tito clash all of a sudden turned Yugo-
slavia from a "Socialist paradise" to a "nationalist hell," the Slo-
bodna Rec, on February 5, 191:9, page 2, for the first time noticed that
many people in Yugoslavia are stricken with tuberculosis :
Dr. Paul Anderson, leader of one of the teams of the Danish Red Cross
* * * declared that Yugoslavia has one of the highest rates of tuberculosis
in Europe, so that over 100 persons die daily from the disease. * * *
Hitting people over the head. — In its tireless efforts to reinterpret
the whole situation in Yugoslavia after the Cominform-Tito clash, the
Slobodna Rec dedicated five long articles (February 16, 19, 26, and
March 2 and 5) to a review of the events in Yugoslavia, arriving at
the conclusion that the Tito democracy consists of convincing people
by hitting them over their heads.
Most undeTYiocratic ., reactionary. — In the Narodni Glasnik of Feb-
ruary 24, 1949, Leo Bacich, secretary general of the Croatian Benevo-
lent Fraternity (I WO), asks, "Where are the present leaders of Yugo-
slavia heading?" and answers:
Our people waged a heroic struggle for 4 years and achieved victory only
owing to the mighty and great Soviet Union. * * *
[But] the leaders of Yugoslavia are waging the vilest campaign against the
Soviet Union * * * as well as against the new democracies. * * * The
gravity of the situation in Yugoslavia is especially evident in the most undemo-
cratic measures of the Yugoslav leaders against those who do not approve of
their policy of splitting the common peace front. Bacich's conclusion is that the
Yugoslav leaders are "drifting into the camp of the reaction."
664 COMIVIUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
In its issues of March 28 and 29, 1949, the Narodni Glasnik pub-
lished two long articles b}' Radon j a Golubovic, former Yugoslav Am-
bassador to Rumania, under the title "Does Tito's Policy Lead Yugo-
slavia to Socialism?". The answer to that question was indicated in
the subtitle which read, "The present policy of the Tito government
is heaping heavier and heavier burdens on the workers and peasantry.
Golubovic himself asserted that :
Thus Tito's clique transformed in our country the Socialist principle of "work
according to one's abilities, and reward according to one's work" into the prin-
ciple of "work according to one's socialistic consciousness, and reward according
to one's capitalistic consciousness."
Tito's clique is introducing into the party nationalist elements through which
it intends to stifle the internationalist traditions of the party and break up the
strongest forces which remained faithful to the teachings of Marx, Engels, Lenin,
and Stalin.
Police terrorism. — In the Narodni Glasnik of March 11, 1949, paj>e
1, a public letter of Yugoslav pro-Cominform students in Prague is
reprinted from the Nova Borba (organ of Yugoslav pro-Cominforni
Communists, published in Prague ) , which accuses "Tito's nationalist
clique * * * ^-f arresting the most progressive elements among
our peoples," charges the "use of disgusting police terrorism methods
against the progressive democratic forces," and asks for help against
the "bloody terrorism of those who betrayed the ijiterests of the
people of Yugoslavia and the anti-imperialist front in the world."
(The same news was published in the Slobodna Rec for Mar. 3,
1949.)
In the Narodni Glasnik for March 18, 1949, page 1, an almost
identical appeal was published under the title "Yugoslav Students in
the U. S. S. R. Appeal to the Youth of the World Against Rankovich's
Agents."
Orgy of terrorism. — Before the Cominform-Tito clash, the Slobodna
Rec and Narodni Glasnik never wrote of any "killing" in Yugoslavia.
News about ruthless Communist terrorism was discarded as the inven-
tion of "Fascists," "war criminals," "stooges of the reaction," etc. But
when, after the Cominform-Tito clash the regime's terrorism hit not
only patriots and democrats, but Communists' faithful to Moscow as
well, the humanitarian feelings of the Narodni Glasnik were sud-
denly aroused. The editorial from April 5, 1949, indignantly asks:
"What does the killing of Communists in Yugoslavia mean?"
The news from Yugoslavia is becoming more and more terrible. It not only
worries all decent emigrants, but utterly amazes them. * * *
Communists are being killed without trial in an orgy of terrorism, as it was
during the old regime. That killing of Communists is entirely illegal and violates
every letter and the spirit of the constitution of the FPR Yugoslavia, as well as
all traditions of the workers' movement in all countries of the world. That is
lawlessness which every honest man must condemn.
They are being killed because they are in favor of what the enormous majority
of the peoples of Yugoslavia deeply feel, and that is the close friendship and firm
alliance with the Soviet Union, protector of all Slavic countries and people's
democracies. They are being killed because they believe in the teachings of
Marx, Lenin, and Stalin.
Besides this, the Narodni Glasnik, which never before objected to the
Yugoslav Government's propaganda in the United States and thought
that only capitalistic countries, the United States foremost, were
practicing an "antipeople's" guns-instead-of-butter policy, angrily
protested against —
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 665
Tito's government, sending to America tons and trainloads of propaganda
material. * * *
For all this material, Tito's government is spending thousands of dollars,
Avhich money is so necessary to the hungry people of Yugoslavia.
While before the Cominform-Tito clash, the Slobodna Rec and
Narodni Glasnik published only protests against capitalistic and "reac-
tionary" governments, such as the United States Government, the
Narodni Glasnik of April 6, 1949, page 2, published a resolution of
the Chicago chapter of the Serbian Progressive Movement signed by
Pavle Bacich, president, and George ISIaravich, secretary, and
addressed to Sava Kosanovic, Yugoslav Ambassador in Washington,
D. C, under the title, "The Serbian Progressive Movement of Chicago
Protests Against the Government in Yugoslavia."
We protest energetically against the arrests and killing of valiant fighters who
are following and are working for a closer unity with the Soviet Union and other
democracies of eastern Europe.
Towards capitalism.—'^Vihy did the Yugoslav Government close the
Polish information bureau in Belgrade?" asks the Slobodna Eec of
May 14, 1949, page 1; and for an answer reprints an article from
Pravda saying :
The Polish information bureau enjoyed a deserved popularity, because it
truthfully informed the Yugoslav people about the life of the Polish people.
The Yugoslav ruling clique closed the Polish Information Bureau. However,
the American, British, and French information centers are still functioning in
Belgrade.
In Yugoslavia, all roads are open to the capitalistic propaganda. All doors
are closed to the truth about the construction of socialism.
"The straw that flies shows whither the wind blows," says an old proverb. The
closing of the Polish information bureau in Belgrade shows clearly that in the
government circles in Belgrade the wind blows in a certain direction — in the
direction of capitalism.
Doivn lolth Tito! — The same issue of Slobodna Rec, May 14, 1949,
page 1, carries the news about arrests in Belgrade, Ljubljana, and
Fiume, saying:
On one of the walls in the harbor there was a very visible big sign : "Down with
Tito !"
PeopJe^s and worker's traitors. — The editorial in the Slobodna Rec
of May 14, 1949, is dedicated to the "destructive work of Tito's agents
in America." The attacks are particularly leveled at Srdjan Prica
and Stevan Dedijer, former editors of the Slobodna Rec, who will
publish a new paper in America whose aim would be to "create trouble
and dissension among the democratic forces of the Serbs, Croats, and
Slovenes in the United States" :
He who today fights in such a way against the democratic and peace-loving
forces in this or any other country deserves the name and stigma of enemy of
democracy, progress, and peace. The Titoists have really deserved the name
and stigma of enemies and breakers of democratic and peace-loving forces.
Dictator Tito. — In the same issue. May 14, 1949, the Slobodna Rec
publishes in its column Do You &iow? one news item on terrorism
in Franco Spain and three on Yugoslavia. Besides other things, it is
said that the police prohibited Charlie Chaplin's film. The Great Dic-
tator, to prevent people from comparing Tito with the main person in
Charlie's film.
Worst traitor. — The Slobodna Rec of May 21, 1949, page 1, carries
an article entitled "Tito's Group Betrayed Socialism — Pravda" (sum-
marizinof an article from the Moscow Pravda, organ of the Communist
666 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Party of the Soviet Union, entitled "Tito's Clique — the Worst Traitors
of Socialism") :
Tito is an agent of the Anglo-American imperialists, enemy of the Soviet Union,
and a destroyer in the service of warmongers.
In the terms of the recently concluded commercial agreement be-
tween the Titoists and western Germany —
the Titoists will give to the German Nazis about 19 million dinars' worth of food
in exchange for machinery.
The people of Yugoslavia, who severely suffer from lack of food, will have
even less, and the Nazis will get fat on the bacon, ham, and other products and
foodstuffs. 1
'"'•Crime''' — friendship with Soviet. — The Slobodna Rec of May 21,
1949, carries on page 1 the news that 11 students were sentenced to jail
by Tito's authorities.
Their "crime" is that they are in favor of friendship with the
U. S. S. R. and countries of the people's democracies.
Betrayal and terrorism. — The same issue of Slobodna Rec (May 21,
1949) carries on page 2 the news that Tito has ordered stricter meas-
ures against his opponents * * * to defend Yugoslavia from
enemies outside the country and inside, i. e., all those who do not agree
with his dictatorship. * * *
All these orders which Tito gave to his secret police are concerning the enormous
majority of Yugoslav patriots, who condemn the treacherous policy of the Tito
dictatorial clique, which are equally directed against the countries of the people's
democracy and the U. S. S. R.
Murders without trial. — The Slobodna Rec of May 25, 1949 (p. 3),
publishes an article by Eugenija Pramenko, assailing "the plan of the
Titoists to break the progressive ranks" :
Tito-Rankovic janissaries already killed many Yugoslav patriots who never
appeared before a court.
With regret, the author notes that former editors of the Slobodna
Rec, Stevan Dedijer and Srdja Prica, are doing their utmost to sepa-
rate "progressive" Serbs and Croats from the democratic movement
and exclaims :
Oh, Steve, Steve, how could you become such a Judas and spit on everything
you once fought for.
Brothers and sisters, democratic American Yugoslavs throughout America,
chase away the troublemakers and Tito agents if they appear amidst you. Let
us rally our progressive democratic forces around our heroic and democratic news-
papers Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik, which are our guiding stars, for free-
dom, democracy, and peace in the whole world.
Workers are in had position. — The Slobodna Rec of May 28, 1949
(p. 2), carries a long article entitled "The Bad Position of the
Workers in Yugoslavia," written by a young man who recently re-
turned from Commimist Yugoslavia to capitalist Australia.
Traitors. — In the Slobodna Rec of June 2, 1949 (p. 3), a poem, full
of strongest invectives against Tito, is published with the following
introduction of the anonymous author :
Until recently, I believed in Tito, as I believed in the whole working people or
myself, but now I want to write a poem for him as traitor to his people.
In the poem, it is said that —
Tito suddenly became a Trotskyist;
He is certainly against the Russians;
He is against Lenin and Marx ;
He now resorts to Hitler's practices.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 667
But, according to the poet, "The people will crush Tito under their
feet."
And as for his comrades in the government :
Rankovic will be skinned alive ;
Kardel.i will have his tongue pulled out ;
And our Montenegrin, "brother" Djilas,
Will get a noose around his neck.
Life is intolerable. — ^In its issue of June 29, 1949 (p. 2), the
Narodni Glasnik reports on Further Arrests of Communists on the
Part of Tito Regime :
Life is intolerable, hunger, scarcity, and misery * * *, only a small group of
people, connected with Rankovic's police, enjoy normal living conditions. * * *
Peasants, students, and officers are being arrested, in one word, everybody who
loves his country and the Soviet Union.
Mass terrorism. — In the Narodni Glasnik of June 30, 1949 (p. 3),
a long report on the situation in Yugoslavia is published which, in
part, reads :
In order to remain in power, Tito's clique is using the most incredible means
of terrorism over the people. * * *
In Yugoslavia, under Tito's regime, laws and civil rights are nonexistent. * * *
Whoever declares himself in favor of the Cominform resolution is arrested.
If he is married, his comrade [i. e., wife] is instantly ordered to disown her
husband and to write an article for the Borba. The family of the arrested is im-
mediately thrown out of the apartment and their ration cards taken away. * * *
We live today without any law or right — the law being the will of Tito's agents.
The same article is published in the Slobodna Rec of July 13, 1949
(p. 2.)
Terrorism..^ persecution. — In the issue of July 2, 1949, Slobodna Rec
carries an anonymous letter from Yugoslavia, written by two returnees
from America to Yugoslavia, very much different from the letters
from Yugoslavia which it used to publish prior to the Cominform-
Tito clash. The letter reads :
Eight hundred of us returnees have applied to return to America and Canada
* * *. You can imagine how we live, and the fact that we disapprove of this
betrayal of the leadership, makes matters even worse * * *^
Prices are so high that an ordinary worker cannot live. An egg costs 20 dinars
and I work for 14 dinars an hour. A pair of chickens is 1,000 dinars ; 1 kilogram
of fat, 500 dinars ; cheese, 150 dinars ; 1 kilogram of bacon, 500 dinars ; and the
two of us earn 5,700 dinars a month, which is not enough for one person * * *,
This is not Yugoslavia as its people and we imagined it ; Tito's betrayal ruined
it completely. There is no morality at all, but only divorces, prostitution, and,
in children's homes, there are more children of divorced parents than of fighters
who fell during the war.
God, these are horrible things. Where dl(i we come to? If you only could see
this, you would be dumbfounded.
Terrorism and persecution, murders and arrests of anybody who dares criticize
this greatest betrayal in the history of the workers' movement.
Those who write to you that it is well here, are liars or sycophants ; they are
those who sold themselves and have no character and no soul ; they are those who
vilify the best friends of Yugoslavia and its peoples, the Soviet Union and other
Slavic countries.
For whom did we fig htf— The Slobodna Rec of July 13, 1949 (p. 1) ,
carries news from Belgrade of a grave incident in front of a jail where
a deserving Communist is kept. His mother is said to have defiantly
told the UDB (secret police) agents:
I am for the Cominform resolution ; I am for Stalin. Shame on you. Traitors,
for whom did we fight? Didn't you fight for Stalin, and today Tito is calling him
a traitor. That traitor Tito about whom we heard only in 1943. And the graves
of our dead heroes — for whom did we fight?
668 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
If the above quotations, expressing the views of "progressive" Amer-
ican Serbs and Croats, are compared with their views before the Com-
inform-Tito clash, commentaries are superfluous. It may only be
pointed to the fact that the attacks against Communist Yugoslavia are
sometimes even more violent than attacks against capitalist countries,
VI. THE STAND OF THE SLOBODNA REG AND NARODNI GLASNIK ON THE
SOVIET UNION
But the attitude of the Slobodna Kec and Narodni Glasnik toward
the Soviet Union did not change. Invariably, always and in any con-
troversy, before and after the Cominform-Tito clash, the Soviet
Union was considered right, the paragon of socialist and democratic
virtues, righteousness, progress, devotion to peace, love of mankind,
et cetera. A few examples may serve to illustrate this point :
In the Slobodna Rec of September 7, 1946 (p. 2), a long article by
Louis Adamic was published on the shooting down of American
planes over Yugoslavia, under the title : "The Truth About the Amer-
ican-Yugoslav Crisis — Important Considerations on the Occasion of
the Airplane Incident." According to Adamic's interpretation of this
issue, which stirred a wave of indignation throughout the United
States, this country was wrong and Communist Yugoslavia was right.
The Slobodna Rec wholeheartedly endorsed this view.
In the same issue of the Slobodna Rec and on several other occa-
sions, an advertisement was published concerning the hook The
Great Conspiracy Against Russia, by M. Sayers and A. Kahn.^ Peo-
ple were urged to buy it. In order "to meet the needs of the broad
masses of the people, the price has been reduced from $3.50 to $1."
This concern about the interests of the Soviet Union is certainly
touching, especially since it is impossible to find among "progressives"
any similar concern about the United States or any warning about the
interests of the United States being threatened by any conspiracy.
Soviet Union won the loar. — The Slobodna Rec, which never speaks
of the merits of America in winning World War 11, has a different
attitude toward the Soviet Union. In the Slobodna Rec of November
29, 1947 (pp. 3 and 4) it is stated :
Today * * * the people of Russia, with its unity, spirit of sacrifice, and
great heroism, as well as owing to its modern policy, saved not only its own
country from the enemy, but all other countries in the world as well * * *
The reversal of the military situation in Soviet Russia secured the victory of
the Allies.
This text is strikingly similar to the views expressed by The Worker,
May 9, 1948 (p. 7), in an article entitled, "Not Communism, but Anti-
communism Is a Conspiracy," by M. Howard :
Socialism in the U. S. S. R. performed a lion's share in saving the national
independence of Britain, France, and the U. S. A.
Mother Russia. — In the Slobodna Rec of September 18, 1947, a list
of solicitors of advertisements for the Almanac Vidovdan is published,
together with some of their letters addressed to the Slobodna Rec.
Among others, Risto Nogulich, Chicago, 111., is sending $110 to have
the almanac, in which "the life, work, and struggle of Mother Russia
and Yugoslavia, against whom the Fascist dogs are hissing and yell-
ing," is described.
^ Michael Sayers and Albert Kahn.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 669
V. S. S. R. keeps its u'orc?.— Under the title "The U. S. A. Violated
Its Commercial Treaty AVith the U. S. S. R." the Narodni Glasnik of
August 12, 1948, published an item from the New York Post saying
that—
The United States flatirantly and inexcusably brolce a solemn agreement with the
Russians. * * * while the U. S. S. R. always stood by its obligations in the
treaty.
In order to give more emphasis to that "fact," the Narodni Glasnik
published, besides the reprint from the New York Post, an editorial on
the same subject.
Life for America. — Always on the alert to defend the Soviet inter-
ests, the Narodni Glasnik of January 21, 1949, after reporting that the
U. S. S. R. has decided to stop the export of manganese ore to the United
States, asks, "Who started all this?" and promptly answers that the
United States is to blame, since it stopped the export of machinery to
the U. S. S. R. :
If we need that ore and if we want to get it, then it is more than correct that
we be ready to sell to the Soviet Union the machinery which it needs and which
they want to buy in our country.
Hundreds of thousands of workers, who in the course of the last months lost
their jobs in various industries, would also like to know why did we stop the ex-
j)ort ; i. e., the sale of machinery and other products to Slavic countries. They
know that the permanent export of such products means work and employment — •
life itself for America.
In the United States of America, fascism.^ — The Narodni Glasnik of
February 21, 1949, page 2, published an article under the title "The
Peoples of the World Do Not Want War, but They Strive for Peace
and Cooperation," in which Anna Devunich, reporting on the Congress
of Women for Peace, held in Budapest, draws a comparison between
the United States and the Soviet Union :
The peoples realize the fact that the Soviet Union is the main pillar of peace
and realize that the policy of Wall Street is the main prompter of a new war.
The greatest danger of a third world war arises from the American reaction.
The case of the 12 Communist leaders in New York is compared by the peoples
to the Reichstag fire in Germany. That event has a great importance and inter-
national bearing and is thus looked upon as a very great restriction of democracy
and concession to fascism in America. All these things which today are happen-
ing in America, including the chauvinism against the Negro people and other
minority groups, present our democracy in the world as a monstrosity and created
hatred. * * *
Men and women in Budapest, for instance, know very well that the Soviet Union
is their friend, because 20,000 Russian soldiers lost their lives fighting from
house to house against the Nazis for the defense of Budapest * * * Children
did not have bread and water, but Russian soldiers brought bread, water, and
freedom.
And that is why in Europe not only is there no war hysteria nor war propaganda
like here, but there is great sympathy and open love for the Soviet Union.
United States of America: Profits for the feio. — In the Narodni
Glasnik from March 4, 1949, the editorial deals with the question.
What does the price reduction in the Soviet Union mean ? :
The question is why do prices go down in the Soviet Union and in the United
States they are still at their highest level, although production is much higher here
than in the Soviet Union ? That is not difficult to answer. In the Soviet Union, in-
dustry and agriculture belong to the people, and consequently they are not
founded on profits. An increase in production means that prices must go down.
An increase in production does not mean increased profits as in our country where
the means of production and distribution are in the hands of wealthy individuals
and groups of Individuals. That is the difference. That is also the reason why the
prices in our country are so unreasonably high. The profiteers do not care about
the people, but about ever-increasing profits.
670 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
Greatest country. — A good example of the attitude of Narodni Glas-
nik toward the Soviet can also be found in its issue of June 80, 1949,
page 4, where an article is published under the heading "S. Kadic
on Soviet Russia". The article consists mainly of excerpts from ar-
ticles (The Truth About the Bolshevik Revolution) by the late Stjepan
Radic, president of the Croatian Peasant Party, written between 1920
and 1927 :
Russia is in fact a peasants' repiiblic with a workers' government; therefore
Russia is not only the biggest and strongest but also the most righteous country
in the world (1920).
Bolshevism is an organization of society and the whole government in which
participate not only every worker and peasant but all other workers so that every
cook and laundrymaid is participating when decisions are made in the matters of
social life (1924).
*******
Soviet Russia is the only great power in the world which in reality acknowl-
edges and respects the right of nations to self-determination (1924).
*******
The tenth anniversary of the Soviet regime in Russia is celebrated very solemnly
in Moscow. The bourgeois newspapers in the whole world predicted in the
course of these 10 years not once but many times that the Soviet rule in Russia
would not last more than a few months. However, this regime is getting stronger,
and that because it is supported by the Russian peasants and workers who, on
the ground of social justice, are leading the Russian people to a brighter future
(1927).
VII. IDENTITY OF "PROGRESSIVE" VIEWS ON OTHER ISSUES
However, the identity of policy and propaganda between the Daily
AVorker, on the one side, and the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik,
on the other, is not confined to the Cominform-Tito clash. Besides
often carrying the same cartoons and photographs, either several days
after the Daily Worker or sometimes even before the Daily Worker,
the Narodni Glasnik and Slobodna Rec have faithfully followed the
Daily Worker line, especially in the basic problems of the United
States. Here are some examples :
A. Refusal of the Communists to fight for their countries
The Daily Worker carried in its issue of March 7, 1949, pp. 1 and 9,
an open letter of William Z. Foster and Eugene Dennis under the title
'Ts It Treasonable To Talk Peace?" A few days before Foster and
Dennis had issued, in the name of the Communist Party, a statement
in which they opposed an "aggressive" war of the United States.
President Truman reacted by condemning that stand and calling the
Communists traitors. In their open letter, Foster and Dennis said :
You twisted the question originally asked and implied that we Communists had
discussed an attack by the Soviet Union upon our Nation.
We, of course, did not discuss the fantastic impossibility of such an attack upon
our country. * * * it is not from the Socialist Soviet Union * * * that
the danger of war arises.
Neither the American people nor the Soviet Union is responsible for the present
world tension. Responsibility rests squarely on Wall Street and its bipartisan
puppets.
Despite all threats and persecutions we will continue resolutely to work for
peace. * * * -sff^ shall continue * * * fo ^n-g^ that our nation shall sign
a pact of friendship and peace with our great wartime ally, the Soviet Union.
The Narodni Glasnik, in its issue of March 8, 1949, page 1, carried
the above letter, somewhat shortened, under the title "Foster and
Dennis Have Answered Truman That Peace Talk Cannot Be Called
Treason." The Slobodna Rec, March 9, 1949, page 1, also carried the
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 671
letter under tlie title "Communist Leaders Tell Truman That Peace
Talk Is Not Treasonable.' '
In the same issue — March 7, 1949, page 9 — the Daily Worker pub-
lished an editorial under the title "Peace Is True Patriotism." It is
revealing to compare this editorial with the editorial of the Slobodna
Kec, March 9, 1949, page 2, entitled "Wallace Stands in Defense of
Peace."
[Daily Worker, March 7, 1949, p. 7]
PEACE IS TRUE PATRIOTISM
Amid the shrill cries of the pre.ss
which would like to silence all politicnl
disagreement with the Government's
war-breeding "cold war," Henry Wal-
lace has again spoken out with courage
and patriotism for peace.
While President Truman calls his
opponents either "s. o. b." or "traitor,"
Wallace dares to stick to his view that
an American-Soviet war would be a
crime against humanity, that it is un-
necessary and completely avoidable
without sacrificing a single national in-
terest which is genuinely American.
America's national welfare is a different
thing from the profits of the munitions
makers, of course. For them a war
would be a godsend, even though mil-
lions would be slaughtered before the
people of the world began to enfox-ce
peace.
While everjone in Washington — Con-
gressman, Senators, and Cabinet mem-
bers— speaks about war as if it were the
most natural thing in the world, as if it
were inevitable, and not even too un-
desirable, Wallace on Thursday, speak-
ing for the Progressive Party, made
these points :
"I said it was possible for progressive
capitalism in the United States to live
at peace with communLsm in eastern
Europe. I still think so. * * * Our
opposition to the Truman doctrine, the
ERF, the Atlantic Pact, universal mili-
tary training, and increa.sed military
expenditures continues stronger than
ever. We must resolve that there shall
be no war. * * *
Wallace, in his speech, supported the
struggle of the Communists against the
policy of cold war — i. e., policy of all
those who fight for peace — and ex-
pressed the apprehension that the war-
mongers will seize upon the.se state-
ments to instigate even greater war
hysteria. With his speech Wallace de-
feuded all Americans, the Constitution,
and civil rights and that every i)erson
and individual has the right to speak
his mind. * * *
Wallace's speech will win the support
of every citizen, regardless of differ-
ences of political conviction, who has
at heart the good of America * * *
if we do not want to happen again
what happened in 1933 in Germany.
[Slobodna Rec, March 9. 1949, p. 2]
WALLACE STANDS IN DEFENSE OF PEACE
Henry Wallace has, as in the past,
again .spoken out for peace. * * *
President Truman calls his opponents
names or "traitors." * * *
The national welfare of America and
the American people, on the one side and
the interests of the munitions makers
on the other, are as wide apart as
heaven and earth. For the instigators
of a new war, that would be a godsend,
while for millions of Americans ami
other people death. * * *
The warmongers, munitions makers,
and the reactionary press speak daily
that the war against v'^oviet Union and
the people's democracies is inevita-
ble. * * * Wallace on Thur.s-
day * * * said, among other things :
"I said it was possible for progressive
capitalism in the United States to live
at peace with communism in eastern
Europe. I still think so. * * * Our
opposition to the Truman doctrine, the
Marshall plan, the Atlantic Military
Pact, universal military training, and
increased military expenditures contin-
ues stronger than ever. We must re-
solve that there shall be no war."
Of the Communist Party statement
* * * Wallace said :
"I am glad that they want to work
with all those who .seek peace, democ-
racy, and social progress. But I am
not in accord with their recent state-
ments because, in my opinion, they will
not contribute to peace, democracy, and
social progress." Wallace said that he
thought that the "reactionaries will
seize upon these statements to .justify
-new reaction and bigger war budgets."
But Wallace reiterated his determina-
tion to defend the civil right of all
Americans to speak their minds on these
crucial issues.
But, regardless of such differences,
Henry Wallace's renewed call for peace
will win the support of every citizen,
regardless of creed or political affilia-
tion, who does not want his country to
be shoved down the fatal German path
by munitions makers and war-hungry
banker-generals.
672 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
It goes without saying that on the question of the Communist trial
the Daily Worker assumed an attitude of sharpest disapproval. The
essence of its views is that, since the Communists stand for democracy,
the indictment of the 12 leaders of the Communist Party is an attack
against the most elementary democratic traditions of America, its
democratic institutions, and the civil rights of its citizens. In the
Worker— southern edition— from September 26, 1948, special section,
page o, the editorial proclaims that "If Communists are outlawed,
you're next," and quotes William Z. Foster, saying :
The attack on the Communists is the major phase of the drive toward fascism
that is now taking place in the United States.
In the Daily Worker of January 10, 1949, page 2, the trial is as-
sailed as being undemocratic because of the "undemocratic jury
system."
In the issue of January 17, 1949, page 1, a cartoon entitled "The
Thirteenth Defendant" was published showing how the indictment
of 12 was a blow striking the torch of liberty from the hands of the
Statue of Liberty. The same cartoon was repeated in the issues of
January 23 and 30.
In the Worker of January 23, 1949, a cartoon was published under
the title "The Other Defendants," referring to Jefferson and Lincoln,
who allegedly are the invisible but, together with the Communists,
real defendants in the trial.
In the Worker of February 6, 1949, page 3, an article bears the title
"If They Frame the Communists, They Can Frame You, Too." In the
issue of March 22, 1949, page 1, a page-wide title reads, "CP Fights
for American People, Dennis Tells Jury."
The stand of the Slobodna liec and Narodni Glasnik is identical to
that of the Daily Worker in essence and in the details.
The Narodni Glasnik published on January 19, 1949, page 5, a report
of the trial, saying that "the court hall and its surroundings look like
a battlefiekl." It quoted one of the lawyers, George W. Crockett, Jr.,
calling the police on duty "an armed mob" and presented the views of
the lawyers. A similar report was printed in the Slobodna Rec of
January 19, 1949, page 1.
The Narodni Glasnik could not be more explicit than it was in the
report of January 17, 1949, page 1. The three-column-wide title read,
"The trial of the 12 Communists is a trial of the Bill of Rights," and
the subtitle, "If the Communists are deprived of the right of political
opinion, then automatically the people of America are deprived of it,
and the basic law, the Constitution of the United States, is ridiculed."
In the article, the editor presents the Communist view of the trial,
saying :
In connection with this trial, here is what the Communists say : "The Bill of
Rights is in fact on trial."
Strangely enough, the editors of the Narodni Glasnik made this
viewpoint their own by choosing it for the headline of their newspaper.
The article ends with the pathetic outcry :
On trial are not only 12 Communists, but the rest of us — we 145,000,000 people.
The Slobodna Rec of January 19, 1949, entitled its editorial "The
United States Constitution on Trial," declaring that —
Today, if Jesus Christ, Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln were to appear
again, the reaction would accuse them too of being "in favor of forcible over-
throw of our Government."
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 673
The Narodni Glasnik in its issues of January 20, 1949, page 1,
January 25, page 1, and January 26 and 28, page 2, attacked the
"undemocratic" jury system, reporting that "protests against the trial
of the leaders of the Communist Party are pouring in" and that Sena-
tor William Langer of North Dakota "sharply assailed the biased
system of jury appointment."
In the same way, the Slobodna Rec in its issue of January 29, 1949,
page 1, wrote "against the undemocratic appointment of the jury"
and reported on Senator Langer's attack against the "discriminatory
jury system in New York."
The Narodni Glasnik of January 18, 1949, page 2, stated that —
The trial of the Communists is a frame-up. And that means a frame-up against
America.
In the same issue was published a telegraphic request of the Ameri-
can Slav Congress of Western Pennsylvania, signed by John Rudiak,
president, and George Wuchinich, secretary, addressed to President
Truman and Attorney General Tom Clark, to reject the indictment of
the 12 Communist leaders, because "the political rights of all Ameri-
cans are threatened." The same was published by the Slobodna Rec
on January 19, 1949, page 1.
In its issue of February 21, 1949, page 6, the Narodni Glasnik pub-
lished an article by Howard Fast entitled "The Battle of the Working
People of Our Nation Is Being Fought at Foley Square in New
York." In the issue of February 22, 1949, page 1, the Narodni Glas-
nik proclaimed that "The indicted Communists are more and more
appearing as accusers," and that "Judge Medina is squirming and by
legal measures preventing the exposure of the disgraceful jury system."
The Daily Worker of March 14, 1949, carried on page 1 the headline
"Wallace hits betrayal," with the caption "Henry Wallace, former
Vice President of the United States and Presidential candidate of the
Progressive Party, yesterday lashed the bipartisan betrayal of civil
rights in Congress." He urged Americans regardless of political
beliefs, to join in action to break the filibuster.
The Narodni Glasnik of March 15, 1949, page 1, published a literal
translation from the Daily Worker under the headline "Wallace
assails old parties because of betrayal of civil rights" and the sub-
title "The administration capitulated before the southern tories as
was to be expected; the reaction gets bolder." Not satisfied with the
reprint, the Narodni Glasnik added one additional column of
comments.
VIII. THE APPEAL TO "SLAVIO SOLIDARITY," THE AMERICAN SLAV
CONGRESS, ETC.
In all the policy and propaganda of the Slobodna Rec and Narodni
Glasnik, the appeal to "Slavic solidarity" is one of the favorite themes
and most important instruments for the mental conditioning of their
readers and for their preparation to do their duty when the move-
ment of "ultimate emancipation" comes. The files of these two news-
papers also reveal the closest cooperation between them and affiliated
"progressive" organizations, on the one side, and the American Slav
Congress and its activities, on the other. In the Narodni Glasnik of
(574 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
May 8, 1947, page 3, Dushan Popovicli, praising some singing choirs
and music bands, says :
Our youth, we are proud that you are of Slavic bloocL
In the Narodni Glasnik of May 5, 1947, an article is published by
Frank Borich, executive secretary of the People's Council, on the im-
portance of the great second congress of the American Croatian men
and women, which contains all the main points of the program adopted
at the congress. In point 6, the congress pledges "active support
to the United Committee of South Slavic Americans and the American
Slav Congress through a fuller participation in their work."
In 1947, Bozo Galeb went to Yugoslavia as a delegate to attend the
All-Slav Congress held in Belgarde. Upon his return, he was given
the greatest publicity in the Slobodna Rec. In the issue of June 3,
1947, page 1, it is announced that "brother Bozo Galeb will speak in
the course of June 1947 in the f ollow^ing places" : Gary, Ind. ; Mil-
waukee, Wis.; Chicago, 111.; St. Louis, Mo.; Denver, Colo.; Salt
Lake City, Utah; Boise, Idaho; Spokane, Wash.; Seattle, Wash.;
Vancouver, Canada ; Portland, Ore.
The same issue of the Slobodna Rec carries an advertisement for the
magazine, The Slavic American, ofiicial organ of the ASC :
Featured in the first issue will be an article by President Benes, of Czechoslo-
vakia, on Slav unity, and an exclusive interview with Leo Krzycki, president of
the American Slav Congress, on his fiftieth anniversary as a labor leader
* * * [and] a short story by Louis Adamic.
"No magazine so ambitious in scope, specifically for Slavic Americans and their
friends, has ever been planned," said George Pirinsky, executive secretary of the
American Slav Congress.
Here is an example of how the American Slav Congress tries to
identify its own cause with that of the American people. The Narodni
Glasnik of July 30, 1947, page 1, publishes a telegram sent by the exec-
utive secretary of the ASC, George Wuchinich, to the chairman of
the House Un-American Activities Committee, J. Parnell Thomas.
The telegram reads :
We request to be heard on the charge of a so-called "Slav fifth column" emanat-
ing from hearings before your committee. We stand forward to speak in the
name of thousands of American working men and women of western Pennsyl-
vania to deny this deliberate slur intended to spread fear throughout our coun-
try.
The same issue of the Narodni Glasnik carries — page 4 — the full text
of a letter to Secretary of State George Marshall, signed by Leo
Bacich, acting executive secretary of the United Committee of South
Slavic Americans, asking —
That the policy pursued toward Yugoslavia in connection with issuance of
passports for travel to Yugoslavia be reversed and passports issued.
The Narodni Glasnik of August 7, 1947, page 2, publishes a report of
a visit to the Yugoslav ship Radnik by Petar Simrak. After stressing
the difference between prewar Yugoslavia and the present regime,
Simrak enthusiastically quotes a few new stanzas added to the old
song called O Slavs, and sung by the crew choir :
O Slavs, the earth is trembling
From the Volga to the Triglav ;
With a clear tone thunder the waves
From the blue Adriatic sea.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 675
In a thmiflerous voice calls our comrade
Stalin, from the Russian plains,
And his comrade Tito answers
From the Bosnian mountains.
Simrak also quotes a new song sung by "young sea girls" :
From the Don, the Volga, and the Ural
To the bhie seacoast of the Adriatic
All Slavs are illuminated
r.y the Red Star.
The Narodni Glasnik of August 12, 1947, carries on page 2 three
very important messages to all branches of the People's Council by
Frank Borich, The second is a recommendation of the first copy of
the Slavic American, published by the American Slav Congress :
This periodical is of enormous importance, not only for us Slavs, but for all
Americans. It is important, especially today, when the reaction is endeavoring
to brand all of us who gave all that we had for the victory in the war, as "fifth
columnists." We must destroy that disgusting slander and prove to the people
of America that we Slavs are among the best and most loyal citizens of America,
who always fought for its democratic traditions and democratic ideals. The
Slavic American will play here a great role. That is why we must take it not
only to Americans of Slav origin, but to others as well.
In an article entitled "The Lack of Knowledge of True Reality"
(Narodni Glasnik, September 17, 1947, p. 4), Eusebio Ruic comments
on Dorothy Thompson's article "The Fallacy of Containing Russia."
I do not know what the racial origin of Miss Thompson is, but from her
writing it can be discerned that, at least, her great grandmother was German,
because she is displaying the same German partiality and greed which before
many Gei-man leaders used to display when they were building a great Germany
at the expense of the Slavs. Miss Thompson knows well that today the united
Slavs have thwarted the plans of all exploiters and conquerors. Now they have
nothing else left but to slander the Slavic countries.
The Narodni Glasnik of October 16, 1947, page 2, carries an appeal
of George Pirinsky, of the Slavic American, to subscribe to this
periodical under the title "The Slavic American Is Your Paper, It
Speaks for You, Subscribe to It." Pirinslrv boasts that "in the course
of the last fortnight over a thousand people subscribed."
The Slobodna Rec of August 5, 1947, page 3, carries a report on
the "magnificent welcome to Bozo Galeb and Martin Zorich in Cuper-
tino, Calif." Among other things Bozo Galeb is quoted as saying that
in Yugoslavia:
The people cleaned the country forever. They have forged not only the
brotherhood and unity of the peoples of Yugoslavia, but also the brotherhood
and unity with all other Slav nations which fought for the same cause.
There is no more hatred, envy, and odium among the people in Yugoslavia.
Instead of that love, warmth, cordiality, sincerity, and the mutual devotion of
one to another prevails. They, in Yugoslavia, call all that brotherhood and unity.
In the same way there is a strong all-Slav solidarity and also a strong friendship
toward all freedom-loving people who work for cooperation and peace.
The Slobodna Rec of September 16, 1947, page 3, carries an an-
nouncement of a public meeting of the United Committee of the South
Slavic Americans in connection with the National Council of Ameri-
can-Soviet Friendship, on September 25, Manhattan Center, Thirty-
fourth Street and Eighth Avenue, New York, The chairman of the
conference was Louis Adamic. The announcement is signed by Leo
Bacich, executive secretary of the united committee.
676 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
The same issue of the Slobodna Rec publishes on page 4 an article,
The Un-American Committee Must Go, by Harry M. Justiz. Above
it is a report on a meeting of the American Slav Congress under the
title, "Henry Wallace Presented With Slavic-American Magazine."
The subtitle reads, "Urges Slavic Americans To Take an Active Part
in Elections and Promote Friendship Between America and Slav
Nations." George Pirinsky, executive secretary of the American Slav
Congress, greeted the IMichigan group and commended them for the
good work they are doing.
The Slobodna Rec of October 15, 1947, page 3, carries a poem by
Krcun Sekulich wliich is directed against Serbian and other Fascists
who want to "break down the iron curtain," but will fail, because "be-
hind it is a great fighting army of 300,000,000 Slavs, which have
weapons and food and are led by two giants : Tito and Stalin." They
have "given power to the workers and shaken the whole world. * * *
Especially are trembling the Nazis and Fascists, rich people and mon-
opolists. From slaves they became men, and capital is no longer their
judge. All people must finally be equal." In this poem the Serbian
Chetniks are assailed and called names, and the Slavs are glorified.
The same issue of the Slobodna Rec carries a report on an article
of Bozidar Milosevich on the importance of Slav unity for peace, pub-
lished in the August-September issue of the magazine, The Protestant,
under the title, "Slavs United for Peace."
The Slobodna Rec of October 25, 1947, page 4, carries an open letter
of Los Angeles Slavs to President Truman, unanimously endorsed by
over 1,000 people attending the fall Slav festival at 330 South Ford
Boulevard, sponsored by the Slavic Council of Los Angeles. The letter
urges President Truman to adopt a "realistic approach in our rela-
tions with Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, Poland, and
Yugoslavia," and "to do all within your power to promote friendly
relations and understanding between our Nation and our allies, the
people of the Slavic countries." It is signed by the Slavic Council of
Los Angeles, George V. Boroz, president, and Casimir E. Nowacki,
executive secretary.
The Slobodna Rec of November 1, 1947, page 2, carries a public
statement of the executive committee of the American Slav Congress
of western Pennsylvania, signed by George S. Wuchinich, executive
secretary, Pittsburgh, Pa., against Judge Blair Gunther and Harry
Alan Sherman, lawyer.
The same issue of the Slobodna Rec carries, page 3, a report by
Drago Kosich, editor of the Slobodna Rec, on the "magnificent success"
of the banquet of the Serbian Peoples Congress. As usual the loyalty
of these people is pledged, not to America, but to all Slav countries.
Philip Vukelich, representative of the Council of American Croats,
and chief editor of the newspaper Zajednicar (organ of the Croatian
Fraternal Union) declares :
All Slavs have united in all Slav countries, and we have to do the same. * * *
Back in the old times, the Romans used to say that if the Slavs would unite,
they would become an important factor in the world.
The Slobodna Rec of November 5, 1947, page 3, publishes an article
by Milan Draskovich, Wilmington, Calif., praising Jovo Popovich,
the delegate at the convention of the Serb National Federation, who
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 677
was expelled by unanimous vote, and assailing Tomo Deretich, who
failed to realize that —
All this boils clown to one tiling, to send the Slavs again to be killed.
In the Slobodna Kec of November 19, 1947, page 3, an article, un-
der the title "The Armistice Day of November 11," is published in
which Dushan M. Peyovich, Detroit, Mich., asks :
With whom shall we make friends and plan a lasting peace in the world?
With the attackers on Pearl Harbor and Belgrade, Stalingrad," and London? Or
with the age-old friends of unity and peace, the Slav Nations?
In the Slobodna Kec of November 29, 1947, page 2, its chief editor
Stanko Vuicli in his article Why Are the American Slavs Being Slan-
dered? takes issue with Eobert Taylor, who wrote several articles in
the Pittsburgh Press on the American Slav Congress and similar
organizations :
What upsets him [Taylor] most is that the Slavs are taking an active part in
preparing the meetings of Henry A. Wallace. This grieves him much, and he goes
as far as calling Wallace himself a Communist. To be active in the workers'
union and to fight for the interest of the American workers is, for the Pittsburgh
Press, to indulge in disloyal activities.
The attacked Slavic organizations and individuals were among the fii'St to
support President Roosevelt and his policy.
In an article entitled "The Unity of the Slavs Is an Important Fac-
tor for a Lasting Peace in the World" (Slobodna Rec, November 29,
1947, pp. 3 and 4), Jovan Mushikich takes a typically "progressive"
Slavic stand :
In the past * * * agreements were made with the help and approval of
the western European countries at the expense of small Slavic nations, aud even
of Russia * * *.
For centuries, the small Slavic nations remained the object of trading between
the ruthless European countries whose enmity towai'd the Slavs is age-old.
Once again, where the Soviet Union is concerned, the Slobodna Rec,
its editors and correspondents identify the people with the Govern-
ment, whereas, when their own country, the United States of America,
is concerned they always make the strictest distinction between the
interests of the people and the governmental policy which is, allegedly,
against the essential interests of the people. Mushikieh exemplifies
this practice :
Today * * * the people of Russia, with its unity, spirit of sacrifice, and
great heroism, as well as owing to its modern policy saved not only its own
country from the enemy, but all other countries in the world as well * * *_
The arrival of the glorious Red Army on the territory of the small Slavic
nations is the most precious event which will shine on the most recent pages of
the history of Slavic people. Through that were realized their strivings, secured
their national boundaries, and democracy, and at the same time were cemented
the solidarity and friendship of all Slavic nations * * *.
The united Slavs, together with all democratic and peace-loving people of the
world, will secure peace and freedom.
And this article in the Slobodna Rec, which never hails the brother-
hood and unity of all Americans, ends with an enthusiastic :
Long live the brotherhood and unity of all Slavs.
In an article published in the Slobodna Rec of December 31, 1947,
page 2, S. Vukalovich says :
In the last war Russia broke Hitler. Fascism was not able to break the Slavs
but broke itself. That is what the Fascists can never forgive Russia for. That
is the leason why they are now attacking the Slavs and Russia.
98330— 50— pt. 2 15
678 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
The same issue of the Slobodna Rec carries (p. 4) : "New Year's
ffi-eeting of the Yugoslav Seamen's Chib in New York" addressed to
"all brothers and sisters in tlie United States, Canada, South America,
Australia, New Zealand, and other countries :
Wo wish you further success iu your work for the unity of all south Slav and
all Slav nations.
Lona live the brotherhood and unity of all Slavs.
The greeting is signed by Toma Babin, chairman of the club.
The Slobodna Hoc of August 2(5, 1947, publishes (p. 4) an article by
George S. Wuchinich, executive secretary of the American Slav Con-
gress of western Pennsylvania under the title "Widen Democracy —
Don't Narrow It."
The Slobodna Rcc of November 12, 1947, describes (p. 3) the con-
ference of the Ameri(;an Committee for the Protection of Foreign
Born in Cleveland on October 25, 2(). After saying that many resolu-
tions were adopted, among which, one to "dissolve the House Com-
mittee on Un-American Affairs, as well as the Ku Klux Klan," they
informed the readers that after the conference "there was a meeting
of a few Slavs with (leorge Pirinsky. Pirinsky ex])lained the situa-
tion of the American Slav Congress and appealed for financial help
in the amount of approximately $100,000 in order to enable it "to
lealize its many aims as an efficient organization." The reporter of
the Slobodna Pec concludes that "this is briefly my report. The
thing is big, the struggle against the reaction mtist be waged on all
sides."
The Slobodna Rec of November 22, 1947, carries a large announce-
ment of the People's Festival in Pittsburgh, featuring Louis Adamic,
"outstanding people's writer," and Paul Robeson, "famous singer," and
says :
Tickets can be obtained at the American Slav Congress of western Pennsyl-
vania, 1005 Berger Building, Pittsburgh, Pa.
In the same issue of the Slobodna Rec, an article is published against
the labor-hating Pittsburgh Press. A photostatic copy of a letter of
President Roosevelt of September 11, 1944, addressed to the Second
Slav Congress is reproduced in order to "refute the lies now being
spread by the Pittsburgh Press against the American Slavs" since —
Now these great American patriots of Slavic origin are subjected to a cam-
paign of vilification and smear by an unscrupulous big-business press.
Thus, the appeal to all-Slav solidarity which represents one of the
main themes of the progressive propagan(hi among Americans of
Slavic origin is far from liaving n purely sentimental charncter. Be-
sides creating the necessary state of mind and mood to fight capitalism,
which is allegedly the main enemy of the Slavs, this ii])|ieal to Slavism
is connected with some concrete facts which the Communists are never
tired of repeating in connection with the decisive question of what
will happen in case of war. A few examples might illustrate the
practical revolutionary importance of this "Slavic propaganda":
1. In a chapter entitled "American Yugoslavs — Backbone of the
American Slav Congress," Mirko Markovich in his pamphlet The
Struggle in America for a New Yugoslavia says:
Many theoreticians tried and are trying to prove the Anglo-Saxon origin
of the Americans as a nation. But many facts are fundamentally correcting
this "Anglo-Saxon" theory. One of the most striking is the following: During
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 679
the war, it was discovered and stiitistirally proven that over one-lialf of the war
material produced in the United States was produc(Ml by tlie liands of the Ameri-
can Shivs. In other words, nioiv than lialf of tlie worliers who were employed
in war industry, especially heavy industry, were Slavs. American-Slavs in the
United States number between 13 and 15 million people.
This fact alone reveals the importance of the role of Slavs in America during
the war for the cause of the United States, for the cause of the whole anti-Hitler
coalition. That is why it was of unusual importance to build up and develop
the anti-Fascist united front of Americans of Slavic origin (p. 45) .
2. The Slobodna Eec of April 29, 1947, page 2, published an article of
Dimitar Vlahov, vice president of the F. V. K. Yugoslavia, and dele-
gate to the UN conference in New York, under the title "What Vlahov
Says About the Immigrants in the United States."
Americans of Slav origin represent a very considerable force, because they
constitute 50 percent of all the workers in the American heavy and war in-
dustries * * *
The progressive role of Americans of Slav origin is today a well-known fact.
They exert an important influence between the American people and the Slav
nations.
Until the attack of Hitler's Germany on the Soviet Union, Americans of Slav
origin, whose number amounts to 15,000,000 people, had no special mutual
link.s, but as they understood what a menace fascism represented for the Slav
nation, they organized themselves and formed special committees for an efficient
struggle against fascism. * * *
They founded several very active committees, among which stand out the
Conim'ittee for Yugoslav Relief, tlie Committee for Aid to Macedonia, the Com-
mittee for Reconstruction in Yugoslavia, the Special Committee for Collecting
the Funds for Building a Modern Hospital in Dalmatia, further committe(>s for
building hospitals in Macedonia and Hercegovina, as well as the committees of
people from Lika and Hercegovina for the aid to these regions.
After praising the work of the American Slav Congress, Vlahov
ends his article by saying :
The huge majority of our immigrants stand firmly by the F. P. R. Yugoslavia.
3. In the Slobodna Rec of February 2, 1946, page 3, an article was
published by Milan Polovina, dealing with the problem of strikes
and workers' rights, in which the author says :
The fact that in those industries [i.e., steel and automobile] 52 percent of the
woikers are Slavs and that, on account of that, the success or failure of the
workers' claims depends to a great extent upon them, burdens us Americans of
Slav descent with a great responsibility to the working people of this country.
* « #
The employers who had billions of profits during World War II, want to con-
tinue accumulating that immense wealth even at the expense of workers' lives,
standard of living, and the welfare of the workers' families, and even at the
expense of the survival and welfare of our country, America. That is what
we are fighting against. * * * In that .struggle, we Americans of Slavic
origin, are playing a great and important role.
4. Maybe the most outspoken in dealing with this problem was
George S. Wuchinich who, in his column "Keep America Free,"
published in the Narodni Glasnik of October 13, 1948, page 4, said:
Fifteen million work in the basic industries and they know the meaning of
Berlin. To have war, steel and coal must flow out of mills and mines.
The same Wuchinich, besides being executive secretary of the Am-
erican Slav Congress of Western Pennsylvania, and an organizer of
the Progressive Party, has played an increasing role in the Slobodna
Rec and Narodni Glasnik. Three days before the Cominform-Tita
clash, he announced in one of his articles that the Narocbii Glasnik
680 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
had decided "to make this column a weekly feature." Very politely,
Wuchinich declares :
Vv'e in the [American Slav] Congress "thank them for this opportunity to reach
you.
And since Wuchinich has had plenty of opportunity to reach the
readers of the Narodni Glasnik, as well as of the Slobodna Rec, his
views can be considered as representative of the links which bind to-
gether the American Slav Congress, the Progressive Party, and the
"progressive" American Serbs and Croats organized around the
Narodni Glasnik and Slobodna Rec. As can be seen from the follow-
ing examples, Wuchinich's dominant concern is to preserve in all
themes and problems, the purity of the "progressive" line :
America, arsenal for world reaction. — The Slobodna Rec of May 15,
1948, carries a "Call to the Tenth Anniversary Conference of the
American Slav Congress," signed by George Wuchinich, in which it
is said :
Another war is being planned. * * *
Preparations for war go full speed ahead in our country. Politicians are
fast making America an arsenal for world reaction and not democracy. At home,
the Taft-Hartley law does its work against the people. * * *
A cloud of fear spreads over the Nation endangering our civil liberties.
The Narodni Glasnik of May 27, 1948, carries on page 4 the full text
of a radio address by George Wuchinich delivered on May 23 under the
title, "The Mundt Bill Is a Measure to Introduce a Police State and
Fascism in the U. S. A." Subtitle: "Quick Action by an Aroused
People is Needed to Defeat the Mundt Bill."
In 1948 * * * we face a crisis. * * * The American people must
awaken. Franklin Delano Roosevelt led the war for world liberation against
fascism. * * * , .^ ^ ,
After these sacrifices do we want fascism here? Do we want it to happen
here ?
Anyone who is "left of feudalism" — who believes in the practices of the
Roosevelt policies— that person is a target for the Mundt bill.
Last week, President Truman said publicly that enough laws exist to deal with
treason and subversion.
Even during, the war, when our national security was at stake, when we
fought humanity's worst enemies, we had no Mundt bill. * * *
This bill has a specific purpose — to launch America into a police state.
This is fascism ; this is the reason for the Mundt bill. It's fascism, feudalism—
or democracy. And it's up to you * * «,
Privileged forces against democracy. — ^In an article entitled "Widen
Democracy— Don't Narrow It," published in the Narodni Glasnik of
August 21, 1947, George S. Wuchinich expresses his apprehensions
about America's future :
America's democratic traditions are in great danger today. Powerful interests,
mainly those of monopoly, have waged an offensive against the people during the
past session of the Eightieth Congress. Not satisfied with a .50- to 75-percent
higher cost of living, they are now attacking our civil liberties with greater vigor
than ever before. Instead of courage and justice in the land, we find fear and
suspicion spreading. Instead of more democracy, we see privileged forces openly
working to restrict it.
"Reaction * * * singled out the Slav Congress as a distinctly leftist organ-
ization. To this weapon another one was added — the slander of a Slavic fifth
column in America. And remember this is to strike fear into all Americans."
The Marshall flan. — In his column in Narodni Glasnik of October
13, 1948, page 4, Wuchinich says :
The Marshall plan that was supposed to do wonders in France with tons of
Coca-Cola iuice, with millions of toothpicks and tubes of toothpaste, is falling
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 681
apart. The people of France parade the streets saying they will not fight the
Soviet Union ; that they don't want any part of the Marshall plan.
Yeah, that's those Communists, says Wall Street.
Everywhere they take up the "red herring," always blaming it on the Reds.
Why, there must be over 1,000,000,000 Reds in the world.
More than 200,000,000 in China alone.
Everyone who is against Wall Street is a Red— the press and radio say it
again and again. * * * , .,. . ^ n^i, ,
Here at home these men of money plan their biggest Red-baiting stunt. They re
going to have a trial this Friday of 12 leading Communists. They want to hang
the rap on them. Blame them for everything.
"O K " says Wall Street to itself; "we can't save China, Greece, France,
Germany', England, Africa, Asia, but we can save ourselves at home. Those
foreign Communists won't listen to us, but we'll make those Joes at home pay
"riieV won't make the Communists pay. They're going to make you pay. They
don't want the Communists alone, they want to put the American people m a
grab bag.
Sure, indict the Communists if they are responsible for high prices, for $2,500
autos that are worth $1,000, for high rents and no houses, for high corporation
profits, for the Taft-Hartley law, for the fear they spread, for the lynching of
Negroes.
Sure, indict Communists if they do this.
But, they don't do this.
Who does it? . ^ , ,_,. ^ .
Look at Congress and the Senate. Is there a Communist holding a seat in
either House? No; there isn't. Not a single Communist in our Government.
It's either a Republican or Democrat who voted to kill OPA, to bust unions with
Hartley who O. K.'d the draft, who lowered taxes for corporations, who hold
up housing, and give $200,000 to the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Every law we have is passed by either a Republican or Democrat.
Indict these— not the Communists.
Hitler blamed Communists and hundreds of millions learned the lesson the
hard way. Must we jump at the bidding of liars, at the bidding of false fronts,
of Wall Streeters and their donkeys and elephants, who blare and bluster about
communism? * * * . , . •
Voting for Truman or Dewey means that people like Use Koch will be coming
to America to teach others like her to make lamp shades out of human skin.
It means that more Negroes will be lynched and that more unions will be busted.
The column of December 8, 1948, in the Narochii Glasnik is used to
present an interview broadcast by Wuchinich with Gus Hall, mem-
ber of the National Committee of the Communist Party of America,
on the issue of civil rights. Wuchinich, after presenting Hall, said :
His civil rights are in danger. So are yours. * * * The issue is not so-
cialism or communism ; it's you and your rights that are [the issues] * * *
Hall. There are altogether 12 of us indicted * * *.
Wuchinich. Twelve of you? History records another 12— Jesus Christ and
his 12 disciples — the 12 apostles.
Hall. I have good company. * * *
Wuchinich. If you are convicted, then no man or woman is safe?
Hall. Our conviction would mean that America stands convicted before the
world, not us. * * *
If civil rights are taken from Communists, from trade-unions, from religious
and national groups, then nothing will stop fascism in America.
Wuchinich. We * * * are privileged to present you. We have read
and heard about your party and have been accused of being a Communist front.
We know something of what you undergo. * * *
In his column of March 2, 1940, Wuchinich says :
The case of the Cardinal [Mindszenty] has been judged by the Hungarian
people That is their affair. In our land, those who use him and religion tor
a war hysteria, are not men of peace, they lead people to slaughter. *
The men who issued a call to arms today, do it on the same theme as did Hitler—
ant! communism. * * *
682 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
People are thinking, and not in the direction the monopoly press wants them
to go.
People want peace — not war.
In his column of March 3, 1949 (Slobodna Eec for March 5),
Wuchinich declares :
Washington is as busy as a bee over its newest baby, the Atlantic Pact. It's
being born illegally.
President Truman, Dean Acheson, and bipartisanites are fathers of this
child — the pact. * * *
Still the pushers of this pact ignore the Constitution and in the name
of anticommunism are promising that American blood will be shed without
Congress having to make it legal. * * *
Here, on the one side, is an attempt to violate our Constitution in the arena
of world affairs, and at home in New York is still another that does it against
the civil rights of all Americans. * * *
The jury itself is a violation of our Constitution. Only the rich, privileged
are asked to serve.
Now there is a parallel to the Atlantic Pact and the New York trial. They
are both being done in the name of anticommunism. Marshall planners, Truman
doctriners, and bipartisanites are raising tlie world banner of anticommunism —
gathering up bases, making treaties, lend-leasing arms, sending military and
police missions to Iran, Turkey, Greece, China — and even this they have found
is not enough — but they must deny Americans the right to think and hold
ideas.
Defeat after defeat has met their plans. Today, over the past week, we have
the announcements from France and Italy by the leaders of the people, Thorez
and Togliatti,' that their people will not join in a war of anticommunism, and
have their countries become battlegrounds for American imperialism.
Anticommunism, whether American brand or German, leads to one road — the
violation of people's democratic will.
Atlantic Pact — New York trial of Communists — it's all the same cloth, falsely
woven into lies and laid into a trap into which our future, if we let it, will
be soaked in blood.
In his column of March 16, 1949, Wuchinich asserts :
These are your dollars and wealth that should go to stop unemployment,
to lower prices, spread national health systems, to build TVA's, and to widen
our social security. These are peaceful pursuits ; the others lead to war. * * *
Unemployment is the issue, not Eed baiting.
Wuchinich's views on anticommunism do not seem to differ ma-
terially from those of Milton Howard, Daily Worker columnist, who
thinks "Not communism, but anticommunism is a conspiracy" (the
Worker, May 9, 1948, p. 7), and that—
The modern philosophy of anticommunism readied its peak in the writings and
activities of Adolf Hitler (the Worker, Sept. 19, 194S, p. 7).
In his column of May 9, 1949, Wuchinich states :
Instead of war and huge military budgets, we must consider trade with the
Soviet Union. * * *
This is the No. 1 point on the order of business — and not war.
In his column of June 30, 1949, Wuchinich says:
Ominously, the FBI is showing itself as a model of a police state so beloved
by Hitler, Himmler, and Heydrich the Hangman. Suicides and mysterious deaths
have already resulted from the many investigations conducted by the FBI, De-
partment of Justice, House Un-American Activities Committee, the Senate Ju-
diciary Conunittee, and other bodies that spend public money ferreting into
people's minds.
^ Maurice Thorez, secretary-general of the French Communist Party ; Palmiro Togllattl,
ee<;retary of the Italian Communist Party.
. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 683
IX. THE YUGOSLAV "PROGRESSIVE" PRESS AND THE ACTIVITIES OF REPRE-
SENTATIVES OF THE FPR YUGOSLAVIA IN THE UNITED STATES
Although the evidence already presented leaves no doubt as to the
real character of the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik, it seems
appropriate to present, for the sake of completeness, the evidence about
the activities of the officials of the Yugoslav Embassy in the United
States, as well as of the officials of the Yugoslav delegations to the
United Nations Organization, Red Cross, and others, as recorded in
the pages of these newspapers.
The fact that the instances quoted in this chapter belong into the
period before the Cominform-Tito clash does not make them obsolete.
On the contrary, we consider this fact as enhancing the importance of
the evidence quoted, since that period was marked by an unparalleled
submission of Yugoslav Communist policy to Soviet policy. It must
be borne in mind that it is the periocl when Edvard Kardelj, the then
Yugoslav Foreign Minister, asked the Soviet Ambassador to Yugo-
slavia, Sadchikov,^ "that the Soviet Union regard us [the Yugoslav
Comnmnists] as representatives of one of the future Soviet republiu
and not as representatives of another country able to solve her prob-
lems independently, and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia as a part
of the All-Union Communist Party, which is to say that our relations
ensue from the perspective that Yugoslavia in the future will become
a part of the U. S. S. R." (letters of the CKKPY, central committee of
the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, and letters of the CKSKP, cen-
tral committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik), Bel-
grade, 1948, Serbian ed., p. 42) .
Consequently, the documents presented here pertain to a period when
the U. S. S. R. was "directing the domestic and foreign policies of
Yugoslavia in the right way" (letters, p. 42).
A. Activities of the Yugoslav Embassy staff
According to the Slobodna Rec, the following instances can be cited :
1. Popular meeting of the United Committee of South Slavic Amer-
icans, Chicago, February 9, 194G. Speakers: Dr. Sergije Makiedo,
counselor of the Yugoslav Embassy in Washington, D. C, on behalf
of the Ambassador, and Vladimir Vukmirovic, consul general in Chi-
cago. Besides them, all the members of the delegation of the Yugo-
slav Red Cross: Dr. Robert Neubauer, Nada Krajger, and Gayo Rat-
kovich. The film, the Liberation of Belgrade, shown on that occasion,
was certainly quite instrumental in supporting the official Communist
thesis that not the western allies but U. S. S. R. and the Yugoslav
Communist guerrillas beat the Germans and woti the war (Slobodna
Rec, February 2, 1946, p. 4).
Later, on the very day of the meeting, it was announced that the
main speaker would be "the former Yugoslav Ambassador to the
United States and newly appointed Foreign Minister of Yugoslav,
Stanoje Simic."
2. Great popular meeting and concert given by the Democratic
Serbian Women of Western Pennsylvania, on February 24, 1946, with
"net proceeds going to the people of Yugoslavia." Speakers: Capt.
George Wuchinich, "officer of the American Army" (and executive sec-
Ivan v. Sadchikov.
6S4 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS .
retary of the American Slav Congress of Western Pennsylvania), and
Maj. Branko Vukelich, "officer of the Yugoslav Army." Maybe such
a way of featuring these two speakers was intended to suggest the
identity of views between "progressive elements" of the American
Army, and officers of the army of the FPR Yugoslavia, which is en-
tirely "progressive." Main guest speaker : Mrs. Danica Simic, wife of
the Yugoslav Minister of Foreign Affairs.
3. Slobodna Rec of March 9, 1946, page 2, published in connection
with an article of Mary Sumrak on International Women's Day, a
picture of Mrs. Simic and Mrs. Sime Balen, wife of the press attache
of the Yugoslav Embassy and former Partisan fighter.
4. On May 19, 1946, Dr. Sergije Makiedo spoke at the meeting of
the American Committee for Yugoslav Relief. After describing
the sacrifices and efforts of the people in Yugoslavia, he said: "And
still, in spite of all our efforts, we would be exposed to many suffer-
ings, were it not for the help of you, our friends in other countries.
The UNRRA helped us to same millions of lives. The Red Cross
has helped us, and the American Committee for Reconstruction in
Yugoslavia has given to us not only its material help, but its warm
feelings, as it understood our problems and our achievements and
contributed much to the understanding of other friends of ours in this
country" (Slobodna Rec, May 21, 1946, p. 2). In view of the fact
that the financial burden of UNRRA was carried not by individuals
but by the American taxpayers — that is, the United States as a whole —
the turn which Dr. Makiedo gives to that help does not seem to be
accidental or naive. His accent on the work of enlightenment of
Americans done by the American Committee for Reconstruction in
Yugoslavia also deserves some attention.
5. "Representatives of the Yugoslav Embassy in Washington" were
present at the queer celebration of Independence Day by the Croatian
National Council, mentioned before (Slobodna Rec, June 29, 1946,
6. The consul general in Chicago, Vladimir Vukmirovic, spoke as
"representative of the Embassy of FPR Yugoslavia in Washington,
D. C," at the "splendid banquet in honor of the delegates and guests
of the Serbian National Congress" in Pittsburgh, September 1, 1946
( Slobodna Rec, Aug. 31, 1946, p. 1 ) .
7. Consul General Vukmirovic, "as a delegate of Yugoslavia," spoke
at the banquet of the American Slav Congress in Pittsburgh (Slobodna
Rec. September 7, 1946, p. 2).
8. Sava Kosanovich, Ambassador of FPR Yugoslavia in Wash-
ington, D. C, spoke at a mass rally in Madison Square Garden, with
which the American Slav Congress in New York (Sept. 20-22, 1946)
was concluded.
9. On December 1, 1946, the Dalmatian-American club of western
Pennsylvania, Free Dalmatia, organized a "Dalmatian Evening."
The main speaker was Dalibor Soldatic, the social attache of the
Yugoslav Embassy in Washington, "who recently arrived from Yugo-
slavia." The Slobodna Rec made known that the proceeds would be
devoted to "technical help to the newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija {Free
Dalmathiy and that "our brother, D. Soldatic, will explain to us the
newest events in our dear homeland" (whereby of course the term
"our dear homeland" does not apply to the United States, but to Com-
munist Yugoslavia) (Slobodna Rec Nov. 27, 1946, p. 4).
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 685
10. At the big ball, organized by the newly founded All-Slav Fed-
eration for Lakawanna, December 1, 1946, whose proceeds were
devoted to "building a new children-liospital in F. P. R. Y.,'' the main
speaker was Sime Balen, press attache of the Yugoslav Embassy, "who
fought valiantly for the liberation of our country, Yugoslavia"
(Slobodna Rec, Nov. 27, 1946, p. 4) .
11. Sava Kosanovic, Yugoslav Ambassador, s])oke at a great mass
meeting organized for the aid to Yugoslav children on February 2,
1947, in Pittsburgh, Pa. (Slobodna Rec, Jan. 25, 1947, p. 1).
12. Sime Balen, press attache of the Yugoslav Embassy, spoke at
a meeting and concert organized by the Council of Free Croatian Men
and Women in New York City on February 9, 1947, which was an-
nounced as "important." It was stressed that "after the speech peo-
ple from the audience may ask questions of the speaker" (Slobodna
Rec,Feb. 2, 1947,p.4).
13. Dr. Sergije Makiedo, counselor of the Yugoslav Embassy, and
consul general, Vukmirovic, spoke at the "great celebration" of the
third anniversary of the Croatian-American Club Partisan in Chi-
cago on February 16, 1947. The proceeds went to "our people in
Yugoslavia" (Slobodna Rec, Feb. 2, 1947, p. 4).
14. Dr. Slavko Zore, counselor of the Yugoslav Embassy, spoke in
Milwaukee, Wis. "He first gi-eeted the public in English and spoke in
English about half an hour ; then he spoke in Serbo-Croatian and then
in Slovenian." Dr. Zore obviously w^ould not miss the opportunity
to let people know in three languages what he thought of the progress
and strength of F. P. R. Y., as well as of Mr. Churchill's idea of the
iron curtain and his Fulton, Mo., speech, as these were the main points
of Dr. Zore's speech. When the toastmaster introduced Dr. Zore to
the public, he received "thunderous applause. People rose to their
feet to greet their dear guest. And during his speech he was often
greeted with enormous applause" (Slobodna Rec. Apr. 17, 1949).
15. At the solemn celebration of the sixth anniversary of the "upris-
ing in Montenegro," July 13, 1941, organized by the united Serbian
organizations of New York City, the Yugoslav consul general in New
York, Miodrag Markovich, delivered a long speech in which he praised
the Yugoslav partisans and their activities in 1941 . They did so well
"that Generalissimo Stalin could say, 'The flame of the partisan strug-
gle has spread to all Yugoslavia'." It is very interesting that a Yugo-
slav consul general to New York does not know that President Roose-
velt, the then Chief Executive of the country to which he is accredited
as a diplomat, spoke at that time (1941) of the "valiant struggle of
the Russians and the Serbs" (quotation approximate), but, strangely
enough, quotes the words of "Generalissimo Stalin." At the same
occasion Markovich did not miss the opportunity to say that the "par-
tisan victories brought not only freedom to the Yugoslav peoples but
the partisans brought also new conceptions of a social order"
( Slobodna Rec, July 31, 1947, p. 2 ) .
16. Consul General Miodrag Markovich spoke in New York on the
occasion of the state holiday of Yugoslavia, November 29, 1947, and
stressed that the F. P. R. Y. was "realizing the 5-year plan without
inflation." Perhaps a survey of the American press dealing with the
danger of inflation in the United States at that time would be quite
indicative as to the motives of Consul General Markovich in
mentioning the inflation.
686 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
17. At the banquet of the American Serbian Women in Pittsburgh,
February 24, 1947, which was a "manifestation for Yugoslavia," the
main speakers were Mrs. Danica Simic, wife of the Yugoslav Foreign
Minister, and Mrs. Sime Balen, wife of the press attache of the
Yugoslav Embassy and herself representative of the Anti-Fascist
Women's Front of the Yugoslav Embassy in Washington, D. C.
"The entry of Mrs. Simic, Mrs. Balen, and Major Vukelich was
greeted by the public, standing, with a long applause." Mrs. Simic
spoke at length about the "traitor Draza Mihailovich." As for Mrs.
Balen —
she was not on the program, but as the people knew she was there, they wanted
her to say a few words at any cost. Especially since her husband left a good
impression with his speech in the midst of us. She was greeted sincerely and
enthusiastically. She brought the greetings of the Anti-Fascist Women's Front
of Yugoslavia,* an organization which was created before the war and which
played one of the great and glorious roles in the liberation of the peoples of
Yugoslavia.
Mrs. Simic and Balen stayed in our midst 5 days, during which they were
invited to visit many of our American institutions and organizations. We have
not words enough to thank them all, who contributed that our organizations
could give this modest moral and material help to our peoples * * * to build
a bright and happy future toward which the genial Marshal Tito is leading them
(Slobodna Rec, Mar. 21, 1946, pp. 3-4).
18. At the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the coup d'etat
of March 27, 1941, in Pittsburgh, took part Dr. Slavko Zore, counselor
of the Yugoslav Embassy, and Sime Balen, press attache, beside Dr.
Nikola Petrovich, Yugoslav Minister of Commerce. Balen attacked
Draza Mihailovich and hailed Tito, but was on the whole rather re-
served. Dr. Zore "explained to the listeners the events in Yugoslavia
and stressed the meaning of tlie national revival."
19. A meeting held in the Palm Garden Hall in New York (May
5, 194G), where the main guests were members of the Yugoslav dele-
gation to the UNO, was "also attended by Col. Mihovil Tartaglia,
military attache of the Yugoslav Embassy, as well as Aleksandar
Franich, Director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Pavle Lukin,
Director of the Personnel Division of the Yugoslav Foreign Ministry;
and Zaka Popovich, Counselor of the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
20. Sime Balen, colonel of the National Army of Liberation of
Yugoslavia and press attache of the Yugoslav Embassy in Washing-
ton, D. C, spoke, together with Zlatko Balokovic and Ma]. Branko
Vukelich, at the picnic of the Serbian organizations of New York City,
wliich had "to show our soliclarity with our heroic peoples in Yugo-
slavia." The proceeds were dedicated to "building hospitals in Yugo-
slavia."
21. Sava Kosanovic, Yugoslav Ambassador, was main speaker at the
Second Congress of American Croatians (Cleveland, April 13, 1947),
together with Leo Krzycki, chairman of the American Slav Congress
(Slobodna Rec, April 24, 1947).
22. Sava Kosanovic spoke at the banquet of the Second Serbian
National Congress in Pittsburgh on October 26, 1947.
23. Sava Kosanovic was featured as main speaker at the Yugoslav
exhibit, sponsored by the Twenty-fourth Annual Women's Interna-
tional Exposition, November 6, 1947. Also present was the singing
choir Jedinstvo (Unity) directed by Dr. Lujo Goranin, and others.
Since in 1946, the most-featured public speaker at American-Yugo-
slav Communist gatherings was Maj. Branko Vukelich, "one of the
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 687
leaders of the people's uprising in Lika, and later social attache of
F. P. R. Y. in Ottawa, Canada," it is worth while dwelling a little on
his activities :
1. Speaker, in addition to Capt. George Wuchinich and Mrs. Simic,
at the "great popular meeting" of the Democratic Serbian Women of
Western Pennsylvania, on February 24, 1946 (Slobodna Rec, February
19, 1946, p. 3).
Western Pennsylvania, on February 24, 1946 (Slobodna Rec, February
ary 21, 1946 (Slobodna Rec, February 19, 1946, p. 1).
3. At the "great popular meeting" in Chicago, on March 17, 1946,
besides other speakers, Vukelich is featured as "member of the Yugo-
slav Embassy" (Slobodna Rec, March 12, p. 1).
4. At the "gxeat popular meeting" in Chicago (March 24, 1946),
organized by the Serbian Progressive Club, Sloboda, Vukelich spoke
about Yugoslavia during the German occupation. No account of his
speech was published, but the announcement of the organizers is
indicative enough. It reads :
Brothers and sisters in Chicago. Come to hear the plain truth from the lips
of a man who fought for the liberation of the whole Yugoslav people. You must
hear both sides. Do not believe what various agents and stooges of Fotich *
and his like, who while mourning the fat and money posts which they have lost,
are lying and shedding crocodile tears over the fate of the Serbian jieople
(Slobodna Eec, Mar. 19, 1946, p. 1).
5. Slobodna Rec, of March 21, 1946, No. 34, page 2, published under
the title "People's Fighter Branko Vukelich on the Historical Change
in Yugoslavia" :
A very interesting and important talk which Major Vukelich, member of the
Yugoslav Embassy in Washington, D. C, a well-known and outstanding or-
ganizer of the uprising in Primorje, Gorski Kotar, and Dreznica had with our
Canadian comrades.
Vukelich first criticized the domestic policy of Yugoslavia until 1941
in a most biased and arbitrary way, following the Communist Party
line. Then he assailed Yugoslavia's foreign policy, which was "an
inimical policy toward our eldest brother, the Soviet Union."
In order to keep this slave order, the regime ruthlessly fought the political
thought of the people, and its first and heavy blows were aimed especially at the
vanguard of that people's thought and ideals— that is, the Communist Party of
Yugoslavia— and so it outlawed it in the very first years of existence of Yugo-
slavia.
Vukelich finally praised all the achievements of Communist Yugo-
slavia, and particularly the social care for children :
In those villas and palaces where formerly licentious princes, kings, ministers,
barons, and rich people were living luxuriously and making plans how to fight
down democracy and the people, now there is our young hope— to who all that
belongs.
6. After such speeches, it is no wonder that Slobodna Rec (March 21,
1946, No. 34, p. 3), reporting on the banquet of American Serbian
Women in Pittsburgh, where Vukelich spoke, beside Mrs. Simic and
Balen, reported that "in a short space of time he has become the most
popular speaker among our emigrants in the United States." Vuke-
lich spoke of "how the people fought, what it fought for, what are its
» Constantin A. Fotich, last Ambassador of non-Communist Yugoslavia to the United
States.
688 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
ambitions and decisions, what is the present situation in the country,
etc."
7. Speaker at a picnic in Akron, Ohio, June 16, 1946. (Slobodna
Rec, June 13, 1946). ^^ ^ ^. ^ ,
8. Slobodna Eec published on June 15, 1946, page 3, Vukelich's
photograph with the statement that he "organized the first people's
uprising in 1941 in Dreznice, Kordun, which gave 1,800 partisan
fighters."
9. Slobodna Rec of December 4, 1946, page 2, published under the
title "What Is Freedom to the People Is Dictatorship and Terrorism
to the Enemies of the People?" Vukelich's speech in Ottawa, Canada,
at the celebration of November 29. The speech begins :
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Comrades: You have gathered at this grandiose
meeting in order to celebrate, as a branch of the great Yugoslav people, Novem-
ber 29, the greatest national holiday of our brotherly, united, and happy people.
After speaking in superlatives of the partisans' activities during the
war and the Communist regime in Yugoslavia, he tackled the criticisms
of the undemocratic character of that regime :
When they tell us that we abolished liberties and introduced dictatorship, they
say it and conceive it under the angle of their felonious and vile aims. We all
know and it has been scientifically proved that there are oppressors and oppressed
and that 'those of the two who hold power do not establish dictatorship over
themselves nor do they deprive themselves of freedom, but those whom they are
going to oppress. * * * it would be stupid to believe that we established
dictatorship for ourselves and abolished freedom; and, as for the former oppres-
sors, it is true that they received what they asked for and that an end was put
to their harmful activity. Well, the difference is that the former was a complete
democracy for a handful of human vultures, and this is democracy for 90 percent
of the working people and at that a complete democracy of the finest form. And,
inversely, that was a strict dictatorship over 90 percent of the working people,
and this is the interdiction of crime to a handful of overthrown exploiters.
Finally, Vukelich praised the secret police, OZNA, as being the
people itself: "The Communists =^ * * gave the power to the
peasants and workers in Yugoslavia, and they will see to it that nobody
will ever be able to take the power from the hands of the people."
In this connection, it is very instructive to quote the Slobodna Rec
of May 14, 1949, page 3, publishing a letter of the Serbian Progressive
Club, Karageorge, Gary, Ind., addressed to Dr. Ivan Ribar, chairman
of the Presidium of the People's Assembly of FPR Yugoslavia. The
club requests that Branko Vukelich, former counselor of the Yugoslav
legislation in Ottawa, now in jail in Zagreb, be released. The request is
supported as follows :
* * * For your Government's and your information, we take the liberty of
telling you this of the activities which Branko Vukelich carried out among the
Yugoslav emigrants in America and Canada.
Before Branko's arrival in our midst, at the beginning of 1946, all of us had
rather poor information about your heroic and superhuman struggle against the
invader and domestic traitors, because among us worked the antipeople's Yugo-
slav press which was under the influence of tlie exiled government in London.
With the arrival of Vukelich, the situation changed completely. His fiery
speeches at conventions and other meetings exerted such an influence upon the
people, that the antipeople's press was obliged to apologize to the public. * * *
Branko Vukelich succeeded, during his brief stay in our midst, to make our
immigrants acquainted with the hardsbips and sufferings of our people in the old
country during the struggle for national liberation. It is just on account of that
fact that Branko knew how to present to our immigrants the real picture of the
struggle and sufferings of our people that our people here started to give and send
help to their people with both hands.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 689
Second. Brauko, with his energetic work, has done more to make your state
leadership popular, your state leadership and the great struggle of the people
for Socialist ideas, than any one of your representatives in America or
Canada. * * *
{B) Activities of the Yugoslav delegates to the United Nations
This is approximately the framework, furnished by the activities of
American-Yugoslav Communists, as well as by the members of the
Yugoslav Embassy to the United States, within which the Yugoslav
delegates to the UN (or aftiliate organizations) were called uponto
play their own role. And the Slobodna Rec does not fail to provide
the necessary proofs that the UN delegates did their best to act up
to the expectations of their masters,
1. The Slobodna Rec of May 16, 1946, p. 2, published, under the
title, "The Pe£)ples of Yugoslavia as Guardians of Peace and Fighters
for a Happier and Better Future," the broadcast speech which Dr.
Dushan Brkich, Minister of Justice in the People's Republic of Cro-
atia and delegate of FPR Yugoslavia to the UN Commission for
Human Rights, delivered in New York, on May 10, 1946. Brkich paid
tribute to UNRRA, but added that, "our people are expecting, by
right, even greater help for the reconstruction of their country and
realization of their hopes for a happier future."
2. In the Slobodna Rec of May 23, 1946, in which was published an
article of Minister Dushan Brkich on Communist Bulgaria, full of
praise and approval, naturally, there appeared also an announcement
of forthcoming meeting organized by the Serbian Progressive Club,
"Vasa Pelagich" (to be held May 26, 1946) :
Our colony will have the honor of hearing the official representative of FPR
Yutioslavia, Minister of PFIl Croatia, the Serb Dr. Dushan Brkich. We invite
alf Slavs to come to this picnic and get acquainted with Minister Brkich, and
through him with the real situation in Yugoslavia. * * * At the picnic
will also be present our "Shuraadinka" Krista Djordjevich, who is a delegate of
the FPR Yugoslavia. Minister Dushan Brkich and Krista Djordjeviqh anived
recently from the old homeland.
3. In its report on the celebration of the cornerstone laying for the
Yugoslav Home in New York (Slobodna Rec, June 13, 1946, p. 3), it
was especially announced to the public "that diplomatic represeiita-
tives of our fatherland, FPRY, who have come to represent it before
the UN, were present at the celebration." They were Dushan Brkich
and Krista Djordjevich.
The public greeted with great enthusiasm our dear and cherished guests and
representatives of FPRY, because we and our gatherings were not accustomed to
be visited by diplomats and representatives of the past and old Yugoslavia.
4. It is worth while mentioning that the Third American Slav Con-
gress (September 20-22, 1946) was attended by Dr. Oskar Lange,
Poland's representative to the United States, besides Saya Kosanovic,
the Yugoslav Ambassador representing Yugoslavia (Slobodna Rec,
October 22, 1946, p. 4).
5. Under the title "Dimitar Vlahov— Macedonian and Yugoslav
Fighter and Statesman," the Slobodna Rec of December 11, 1946, pub-
lishes the biography of Vlahov, Yugoslav delegate at the session of the
UN in New York. According to this biography, Vlahov spent his
whole life in illegal political activity :
BiK-ause of his progressive views, he was named the first Socialist in the Turkish
Parliament. Between the two World Wars he published several Communist
newspapers and periodicals. In 1925 he founded the United Macedonian Revo-
690 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
lutionary Organization. In 1933, during the Anti-Fascist Congress in Paris,
he was elected member of the central committee of that congress, whose chair-
man was the well-known French writer and democratic fighter, Henri Barbnsse.
Vlaliov wrote articles in L'Humanitc, Pravcla (Moscow), and many
other newspapers. In 1943, w4ien the foundations of a Communist
YugosLavia were laid (although illegally), Vlahov was elected vice
president of the first Provisory Yugoslav Communist Parliament.
During the Paris Peace Conference in 1946, Vlahov was a member of
the delegation.
6. A few days later the Slobodna Kec of December 31, 1946, No. 188,
page 4, published an account of Vlahov's visit to Detroit:
In spite of the few days available for preparations, the attendance at the splen-
did banquet in honor of Vlahov was larger than could be expected.
Four hundred and fifty persons filled the crystal ballroom of the Hotel Book-
Cadillac, and many had to withdraw as there were no more places.
When Vlahov rose to speak, the great hall resounded from thunderous applause.
Vlahov described the history of the Macedonian people and described in detail
its importance within the framework of the struggle against fascism and against
domestic quislings.
Today the Macedonians have equal rights with the other peoples of Yugo-
slavia, and there are no more "great Serbian gendarmes who would terrorize
the poor," said Vlahov.
The common struggle with the Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrines, and
other freedom-loving people * * * has foi-ged our unity which nobody is able
to break any more, however cunning he may be. There is no more danger of
■*'great-Serbianism" and "great Serbian dictatorship," nor will there ever be any,
as with Tito there is no difference between various religions and political groups.
Those who work for the people have the greatest rights and their labor is
acknowledged.
At the banquet $14,000 was collected for a hospital in Skoplje. * * * This
sum was the beginning of the campaign to collect $250,000.
This speech will be better understood if an article (radio speech)
of Vlahov's, under the title "The Colonial Peoples Must Be Guar-
anteed Full Social, Political, and Cultural Development," is taken
into consideration, as it distinctly shows that Vlahov did not look for
the best solution of the "Macedonian problem" according to the needs
of the "Macedonian people," but tends to apply to all peoples, regard-
less of all their peculiarities and special circumstances of life, char-
acter, and history, the same Communist pattern.
7. The Slobodna Rec of January 6, 1947, page 1, published a very
interesting account of Vlahov's activities under the title, "Dimitri
Vlahov Touring Our Colonies :"
The delegate of Yugoslavia at the United Nations, Dlmitar Vlahov, has visited
our Macedonian immigrants in America and Canada. Dr. Vlahov is a great
Macedonian fighter for the independence and rights of all Macedonians. As
early as 1908, he was elected as first member of the Turkish Parliament, where
his speeches in favor of an autonomous Macedonia won him fame.
From 1932 on, he was in Vienna editor of the Balkan Federation and Mace-
donian Affairs, which were published in several European languages. Today
he is president of the partly free Republic of Macedonia and vice president of
the FPR Yugoslavia and delegate at the UN in New York.
That great son of the Macedonian people has up to now visited Buffalo,
Toronto, Detroit, and other places. Everywhere our Yugoslav immigrants,
especially the Macedonians who, in his honor, organized concerts and ban-
quets gave him a warm welcome. On all these occasions Vlahov gave long
speeches in which he set forth the position of Macedonia in today's FPR Yugo-
slavia. He especially stressed the great understanding of Marshal Tito and of
other people's republics for Macedonia, and declared that Macedonia is obtain-
ing all possible help for its development and progress.
His statements about the position of the part of Macedonia under the rule
of Greece (Egean Macedonia) attracted great attention. He said, "If the
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 691
racial terrorism against our people in Greece is continued, it will be completely
obliterated."
The visit of Vlahov to our colonies will bring very good results. In that
manner the people learn to know the facts and realize more clearly the true
aims of the struggle for liberation. On the occasion of these visits, donations
for a hospital in .Macedonia were collected. In Toronto, the collection brought
$7,000, and in Detroit $14,000. From Detroit, Vlahov will go to Chicago and
Akron. We wish for Vlahov that he will achieve great success on his travels
for the good and benefit of Macedonia and the whole FPR Yugoslavia.
Characteristically, the "good and benefit" of America is forgotten.
9. On the occasion of the Second Serbian Congress in Pittsburgh,
October 25 and 26, 1947, the Slobodna Rec several times published
the announcement that Vladimir Simich, President of the Federal
Council of the National Assembly of the Federal People's Republic
of Yugoslavia and delegate to the General Assembly of the United
Nations, would be the main guest speaker. It even published his
photograph and biography. However, there was later no account of
Simich's participation at the congress.
10. The Slobodna Rec of July 31, 1947, page 2, reporting on the
celebration of the sixth anniversary of the people's uprising in Monte-
negro, stressed that the "celebration was attended by Dr. Joza Vilfan,
Minister of the FPRY at the UN, Mr. Aleksa Todorovich, secretary of
the delegation of the FPRY at the UN, and Mrs. Zoja Levi, member of
the Anti-Fascist Women's Front of Yugoslavia." The report reveals
what importance such visits have for American- Yugoslav Commu-
nists by saying : "The organizing committee expressed its gratitude to
all people who attended the picnic, but foremost to the above-men-
tioned persons."
ACTIVITIES OF THE DELEGATES OF THE YUGOSLAV RED CROSS
Concerning the representative of the Red Cross of Yugoslavia, on
a mission in the United States, the files of the Slobodna Rec tend to
demonstrate that they have done their best not to lag behind other
delegations and missions from FPRY, and that their activities have
been nicely timed with the activities of the Yugoslav Embassy:
1. The Slobodna Rec of January 17, 1946, page 3, presents the pic-
ture of three delegates of the Red Cross of FPR Yugoslavia, announc-
ing that :
The representatives of the Red Cross from our homeland, partisan fighter,
Dr. Robert Neubauer, Lt. Nada Ki-aiger, and Lt. Gayo Ratkovich, will partici-
pate at the meetings in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Farrel, Johnstown, Duquesne, Mil-
waukee, and other towns. * * *
They will personally greet our people here and tell them the truth which some
of our people's enemies are distorting.
At the same time it is announced that a special reception for Nada
Kraiger is being prepared by the Slovene Progressive Women in
Cleveland.
2. The Slobodna Rec of January 22, 1946, page 4, reprinted from
the New York Post, Januar}?^ 11, 1946, an interview with Dr. Robert
Neubauer, chief of the Yugoslav Red Cross delegations, written by
Mary Bragiotti. Dr. Robert Neubauer explains that until 1941 he
was "too busy to be interested in politics." In May 1941 he was sent to
a German concentration camp but does not explain for what reason and
under what charges. At any rate, "in that camp I caught the spirit
692 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
* * * and once you've got it it's finislied. I joined the liberation
movement." Subsequently "The German commanding officer received
so many letters urging him to release the doctor that, after 6 weeks in
the concentration camp, he was freed and told to disappear quickly
into the Italian-held part of the country,'] He disappeared — but
quickly — and reappeared in his birthplace, Ljubljana, Slovenia, as an
innocent, small-town doctor. His office was opposite the police de-
partment and some of his patients were Italian officers and men.
The "innocent" doctor was one of the organizers of the National
Liberation Front.
Perhaps one is permitted to wonder whether a man who "caught the
spirit" so quickly and was so easily released by the Nazis has come to
the United States for such an innocent purpose as "to study [the oi-gan-
ization of the American Red Cross] and to explain to the American
people Yugoslavia's medical and social problems."
3. All three members of the Red Cross delegation spoke at the meet-
ing of the United Committee of vSouth Slavic Americans in Chicago,
February 9, 1946, together with Dr. Makiedo, counselor of the Yugo-
slav Embassv, and V. Vukmirovic, consul general in Chicago. (Slo-
bodna Rec, February 2, 194G, p. 4).
4. Under the title "Johnstown Deserves Honor and Recognition,''
the Slobodna Rec of February 2, 1946, No. 13, page 3, published an
enthusiastic account of Dr. Neubauer's visit to that town :
After Dr. Neubauer's speech, $1,700 was collected for the people of Yugoslavia.
[Dr. Neubauer.] who described the situation in Yugoslavia and the sufferings of
our people brought upon them by Nazi-Fascist invaders, * * * spoke with
incredible enthusiasm of our people in building the destroyed and charred land.
Dr. Neubauer's words left a strong impression. To many the picture became
clearer. * * * Dr. Neubauer's speech coveied all important problems of the
reconstruction and aid to tlie people of Yugosalvia. Also the background of
events was very convincingly shown.
5. According to the Slobodna Rec of February 16, 1946, page 4, all
three delegates spoke in Auckland (February 26), San Francisco
( February 27 ) , and Cupertino ( February 24) ,
6. Under the title "Our Aid Raises the Spirit of Our People." the
Slobodna Rec of February 16, 1946, page 4, published a picture of a —
beautiful group of progressive women — Serbian, Croatian, and Slovenian — who
have organized a heartfelt welcome to the Partisan Nada Kraiger. Partisan Nada
is seen in the middle beside a bunch of flowers which were presented by the
active sisters. They all work for aid to Yugoslavia.
7. The Slobodna Rec of February 23, page 4, published an appeal of
the American Committee for Yugoslav Relief to attend a mass meeting
in San Francisco at which all three delegates spoke. Net proceeds
were "devoted to children in Yugoslavia." The appeal invites "all
Yugoslavs from San Francisco and vicinity to attend this meeting and
hear about the situation in Yugoslavia."
^8. According to the Slobodna Rec of March 12, 1946, page 4, Nada
Kraiger spoke in Gary, Ind., at the meeting of the Women's Committee
for Yugoslav Relief on March 13, 1946.
9. Slobodna Rec of March 27, 1947, page 3, published an appeal of
Mrs. Krista Djordjevich, special delegate and member of the central
committee of the Society of the Red Cross of FPRY, addressed to "the
Montenegrines and Bokese in the United States" to give donations for
the purchase of an ambulant clinic for Montenegro.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 693-
Mrs. Djordjevich says that slie "had the opportunity of meeting
many Americans of Yugoslav origin. * * * I attended the gather-
ing of the American Serbs in New York City, who, in a short time,
collected an important sum for Yugoslav war orphans." She sum-
mons them to do more :
I am convinced that you will further on collect, with the same willingness and
love, donations and gifts for any part of our devastated country, and especially
for our war orphans.
10. Mrs. Djordjevich was also present at the meeting of the Serbian
Progressive Club, Vasa Pelagich, in Detroit, together with Dr. Dushan
Brkich (previously mentioned, Slobodna Rec, May 23, 1946), and the
meeting in New York City on May 5, 1946 (Slobodna Rec June 13,
1946). On that occasion it was mentioned that she was a delegate to
the United Nations Economic and Social Commission.
D. ACTIvrriES OF THE DELEGATES TO THE UNRRA MEETINGS IN THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA
The delegation of FPR Yugoslavia at the fourth session of UNRRA
in Atlantic City (March 15-29, 1946) was headed by Dr. Nikola Petro-
vich, Yugoslav Minister of Commerce. This is what the Slobodna Rec
writes about his activities :
1. The Slobodna Rec of March 19, 1946, page 4, printed an adver-
tisement of the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the people's
uprising in Yugoslavia. That advertisement, printed on almost a
whole page of the paper, featured as main speaker Dr. Nikola Petro-
vich. The net proceeds were devoted to Yugoslav relief. The appeal
summoned all Americans of Yugoslav origin to "show your solidarity
with the Yugoslavs of Marshal Tito."
2. The Slobodna Rec of March 26, 1946, page 2, published a biog-
raphy of Dr. Nikola Petrovich under the title, "Nikola Petrovich,.
Yugoslav Minister of Commerce, on an Important Mission." The
Slobodna Rec informs us that —
After realizing how terroristic, reactionary, and hostile to the people the Belgrade
clique of power holders were, Petrovich as a high-school student already joined
the ranks of the Serbian Democratic Youth, fighting for a truly democratic Yugo-
slavia, based on a brotherhood of all Yugoslav people. During his studies in
Prague, he stood out among democratic students with his active work. After
graduating, lie came home and lived in Belgrade, taking an active part in the
struggle of the I'opular Front against the dictatorial regimes of the Karageorge-
vich '■ clique. Besides his political activity, he distinguished himself in the field
of economic and cultural activity. He wrote a number of articles and studies
in democratic papers and periodicals, such as NIN," Nasa Stvarnost,' and others
which the royal police subsequently prohibited.
In 1941, he answers "the appeal of Tito, takes up arms and joins
the partisan ranks." He organized partisan units in Voivodina. In
1942, he was elected a member of the Chief People's Committee of
Liberation of Voivodina and, in 1943, "at the historical second session-,
of tlie AVNOJ * in Jajce, lie was elected a member of the presidency
of the AVNOJ."
Mvaragoorgevich, the royal house ruling Yugoslavia before the Couimuuist seizure of
power.
2 Nfdel.ine Inforraativne Novine (Weekly Information Newspaper), a well-known Com-
munist weekly, edited by Sveta Popovich,' a professional Communist and veteran of the
Spanish civil war.
' One of the leading Communist periodicals published in Yugoslavia prior to World
War II.
* Anti-Fasisticko Vece Narodnog Oslobodjeiija Jugoslavije ( Anti-Pascist Council of the-
National Liberation of Yugoslavia).
98330— 50— pt. 2 16
694 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
In 1944, he was Acting Minister of Commerce in the National Com-
mittee of Liberation of Yngoslavia and, in February 1945, became
Minister of Supply in the first cabinet of Tito.
3. The Sloboctna Rec of April 4, 1946, page 2, published the whole
speech of Petrovich in Pittsburgh under the title, "New Development
in the History of the South Slavs and the Historical Change in Yugo-
slavia— Important Speech of the Yugoslav Minister Petrovich." In
order to fit the occasion, Petrovich started by sustaining the official
Communist thesis about the coup d'etat of March 27 ^ by asserting
that it was the work "of the people" :
On that day, I listened to the speeches of today's minister in our government,
Lt. Gen. Milovan Djilas, today's major general of our army, SvetozarVukmanovic-
Tempo, today's vice president, Dr. Ivan Ribar and his unforgettable sou, the late
Ivan-Lola Ribar. * * * It is because of the people that the name of Yugo-
slavia is shown for the first time with bright light before the whole world.
Fate has determined that I am celebrating the fifth anniversary of March 27
here in Pittsburgh with you, my dear brothers and sisters. * * * But
* * * at a distance of thousands and thousands of miles, we are today united
in spirit with our whole people.
After attacking the foreign policy of Yugoslavia until 1941, which
was "inimical to the greatest Slav country in the world, the Soviet
Union," Petrovich hailed Tito: "You know him because he is the
blood of your blood."
Petrovich then spoke about Draza Mihailovicli and made the very
significant statement that "there is no power in the world which could
possibly force us to deliver Draza Mihailovicli to some international
court. He will be tried by our people's court." It is indicative that
these words were printed in three places in the same issue of the
Slobodna Eec: In the report on Petrovich's speech, in the leading
article, and in a column. As to the "legend about Draza Mihailovicli,"
Petrovich said that —
it was not diflBcult for us to shatter and bare the skillful lie about Mihailovich.
It is much more difficult to shatter the legend about Draza Mihailovich here in
America, because here you lack the immediate experience which the people
in our country had. Therefore, it will take much more persistent work.
Although you are far away from your homeland, I think that it is possible for
you to help it in many ways. In my opinion, one of the main tasks of our immi-
grants in the United States is to be the living link between the people of Yugo-
slavia and the American people. Explain to your American fellow citizens
the meaning of the events in Yugoslavia ; explain to them all the great changes
which have been brought about under the direction of Marshal Tito.
4. In the same issue of the Slobodna Rec the leading article is de-
voted to comment on Petrovich's speech :
Mr. Petrovich casts a strong beam of light in the ideas of our immigrants. He
is stating an important historical fact when he says : "The demonstrations which
preceded March 27th were directed by the then unknown Josip Broz-Tito."
* * * Mr. Petrovich especially stressed * * * that the coup d'etat of
March 27 would never had happened, had it not been prepared by the
year-long struggle of democratic forces in our country against the domestic
reaction. * * *
1 On March 27, 1941, a group of Yugoslav officers revolted against the government of
Regent Prince Paul over the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact by Yugoslavia with Ger-
many and Italy. The revolt was led by Gen. Dusan Simovic. The Communists have
since the end of the war attempted to claim credit for participation in the revolt when as
a matter of fact they had absolutely no part in it. At that time, the Communist Parties
thrfnic'liont the world carried on a program of "peace" propaganda to supjiort the Soviet-
German Pact of 19.39. Therefore, any military action aimed at Nazi Germany would have
been contrary to the current Soviet Party line and would automatically been opposed by
the Communist Parties.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 695
It is significant that owing to such speeches Petrovich won, accord-
ing to the Slobodna Rec, "the sympathies of the people" in Pittsburgh
RV.d "left the strongest impression on all ^^ho attended the meeting."
In spite of all the care that the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik
took to present the cooperation between the official representatives of
the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia and the "progressive"
Americans of Serbian and Croatian origin as a harmless cultural and
humanitarian cooperation for welfare and peace, the real nature of
those contacts can easily be established from the above quotations.
It is nevertheless helpful to study the pages of the Slobodna Rec
and Narodni Glasnik after the Cominform-Tito clash, when the official
contacts rapidly declined and almost disappeared. In the same way as
the Cominform-Tito clash induced Tito's regime to publish revealing
facts and information about connnunism in Soviet Russia and, on the
other hand, induced Moscow to publish revealing information about
communism in Yugoslavia, the Cominform-Tito clash brought into the
open some interesting facts relative to the activities of Yugoslav offi-
cials in the United States (and Canada) and the relations between
American (or Canadian) organizations and the Communist Yugoslav
autliorities.
In this connection, it is worth while pointing — besides the case of
Branko Vukelich — to the conflict between the Secretary General of
the Yugoslav Government, Ljubodrag Djuric, and the Council of
Canadian Yugoslavs, an issue in which both the Slobodna Rec (Feb-
ruary 1, 1949, p. 2) and the Narodni Glasnik (February 10, 1919, p.
2) took a very definite stand.
The Narodni Glasnik praised the work of the council which "has
played and is playing a very useful and progressive role in the life of
Yugoslav emigrees in Canada." It stressed equally the merits of the
council in helping "the heroic people in Yugoslavia, for which the
Yugoslav Government and its representatives in Canada gave lauda-
tory acknowledgments." But since the Yugoslav Government "left
the powerful front of peace and anti-imperialism, led by the Soviet
Union," the representatives of the Yugoslav Government "reacted in
a manner which can * * * only harm the interests of Yugoslavia
itself and of the progressive movement in Canada."
In his letter addressed to the Council of Canadian Yugoslavs, the
Secretary General of the Yugoslav Government withdrew "all authori-
zations and powers issued to the council by the authorities and institu-
tions of FPR Yugoslavia." The reason for this was that —
the attitude of the council toward the FPRY lately does not give the necessary
guaranty that the money collected for help to Yugoslavia will be correctly used,
which could harm both those who give the money and those who ought to benefit
from it.
In its angry answer, the council declares bluntly —
We consider your intervention in the affairs of the council, especially the inter-
vention of your legation in Ottawa, whose work in this country oversteps all
diplomatic rights, as an open provocation and an attempt to breali our emigrant
movement.
[The council and similar organizations in Canada and the U. S. A.] never
asked nor obtained any authorizations, permits and powers, etc., from the Yugo-
slav Government to work in the United States of America or Canada * * *
In no case were they organs of the Yugoslav Government or any other foreign
agency. * * *
The withdrawal of authorizations * * * publicly easts a suspicion not
only on the organization concerned, but on any other organization which per-
696 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
formed a noble and patriotic worlv in helping the peoples of Yugoslavia, that it is
an agency of a foreign power. * * *
Have the representatives of the Yugoslav Government ever thought or cared
about the undesired consequences if the Canadian authorities would take the
declaration of the representatives of the Yugoslav Government as a proof that
the Council of Canadian Yugoslavs is anything but a Canadian organization?
X. CONCLUSION
All the evidence presented in this report points to a few elementary-
facts concerning the "progressive" American Serbs and Croats, and
more particuLarly the Slobodna Rec and the Narodni Ghasnilv, namely :
1. That these two newspapers have never, on any single occasion, on
any single issue, supported the stand of the United States Govern-
ment.
2. That they always, without a single exception, have given full,
unconditional, and unrestricted support to the official stand of the
Government of the Soviet Union.
3. That their attitude toward Yugoslavia, the country of their
origin, depended solely and entirely on the existing relations between
Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union ; that is, on the policy of the Yugo-
slav Government in power toward the Soviet Union, or, to put it more
precisely, on the policy of the Soviet Government toward the regime
in Yugoslavia.
4. That the criticism by the Slobodna Rec and the Narodni Glasnik
leveled at the existing social and political order in the United States
follows to the letter the line of Communist strategy and tactics.
These two newspapers not only are doing their best to illustrate the
main theses of the Marxist-Leninist theory but follow closely and
conscientiously the line of Communist tactics themselves, especially
the new tactics of the Communist Party, of the so-called anti-Fascist
people's fronts adopted at the Seventh Congress of the Communist
International and elaborated in detail in the two most recent works of
William Z. Foster, the Twilight of World Capitalism, and In Defense
of the Communist Party and the Indicted Leaders.
This Communist theory, reduced to its essentials, consists of the
following theses :
(a) Capitalism is the source of exploitation, oppression, and all
evil in this world.
(h) Capitalism, owing to its inner structure and the laws of its
development, is doomed to failure.
(c) On the ruins of capitalism a new order will be installed — the
socialist order.
(d) Although the downfall of capitalism is unavoidable because it
is subject to laws as unchangeable as natural laws, the downfall of
capitalism will not be achieved automatically. The working class,
which is the creator of socialism, in order to achieve victory must
i\ecessarily be organized into a party, but not a "bourgeois" party
which follows the rules and can function only within the parlia-
mentary system. The party of the working class must be a "new
type" party, a militant vanguard party which will prepare and organ-
ize the workers for direct revolutionary action and a forcible over-
throw of the existing capitalistic order and government.
(e) The United States is no exception to the above rules. On the con-
trary, capitalism in the United States exemplifies most drastically all
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS 697
the main theses of Leninism, which is Marxism in the imperialistic
phase of capitalistic development. Capitalism in America is thus
bound to fall, owing to its own internal contradictions and inability
to solve the growing difficulties inherent in capitalism as a system.
(/) But since, according to Marx, Lenin and Stalin, no ruling class in
history ever gave up its privileged position without struggle — never
voluntarily disappeared from the world stage — American capitalism
is doing its best to keep at all costs the unique position which it has
in the present world.
(g) These efforts of American capitalism to keep its position at any
price is entirely undemocratic. Since its downfall is inexorable, Amer-
ican capitalism — personified in Wall Street bankers, and political
reaction — must necessarily pursue a policy of fascism in America and
the policy of imperialism which leads to war in its relations with other
countries.
(A) In pursuing such a policy, Wall Street and American reaction
must necessarily clash with the interests of the common people in
America as well as with the interests of all people in the world. The
internal and international tension which ensue must necessarily lead
to an open conflict between world capitalism, headed by Wall Street,
and the front of democracy and peace, headed by the Soviet Union.
(i) The growing violence of the capitalists must be met by violence
on the part of the people. The entire program of the Communist
Party, its press, and all affiliated organizations is to prepare the people
for the conflict which is bound to come, so that the sinister intrigues of
capitalists can be met and "the people smash the power of the ruling
capitalists, take control themselves, and enter into genuinely fraternal
relations with other peoples, particularly with the U. S. S. R."
(Foster).
Tliis background is iiecessary for the correct understanding and ap-
praisal of the policy and propaganda of any "progressive" organiza-
tion in the LTnited States, since the Marxist-Leninist theory requires a
special technique of propaganda.
This special technique is well illustrated in the pages of the Slobodna
Rec and the Narodni Glasnik. It follows a few simple rules :
No news or articles must be ]:»ublished which could possibly harm the
mental and political preparation of the people for the overthrow of
capitalism. All news must be carefully selected so as to support any
one of the main theses of Marxism-Leninism. This applies not only to
the editorials but to the most insignificant item published in the papers,
sucli as cartoons, photographs, announcements, and advertisements.
Moreover, every single item must be carefully selected so as to in-
crease tlie belief of the readers in the inevitability of the downfall of
capitalism, in the righteousness of the Communist cause, and to in-
crease their willingness to take an active part in the decisive revolu-
tionary struggle. These simple rules are carried out by —
1. Always presenting the United States in an unfavorable light.
Every single copy of the newspapers must present new evidence of the
rottenness of American capitalism, of the deep rift between the in-
terests of Wall Street and reaction on the one hand, and the workers
and the people on the other.
2. Always presenting the Soviet Union in a favorable light by giv-
ing examples of its domestic policy favorable to the people and for-
698 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN ALIEN AND NATIONAL GROUPS
eign policy favorable to peace, and serving the interests of all man-
kind.
3. Commenting on all events and all problems so as to indict the-
United States and praise the Soviet Union.
4. Proving that there is no conflict of interests between the United
States as a whole and the Soviet Union, but that the main conflict
exists inside America itself; namely, between its ruling class and the
broad masses of the people. As stated by George S. Wuchinich, of
the American Slav Congress, in his column in tlie Slobodna Rec of
May 14, 1949, page 2 :
The time has come to look to battle fronts in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Minneapolis,
San Francisco, and New Orleans, not to the Yangtze, Athens, Berlin, Rome,
Paris, or London.
5. Presenting all the Government's policies and activities which
tend to strengthen America as militaristic, Fascist, and imperialistic,
and recommending a policy of weakening America militarially, politi-
cally, and spiritually as being favorable to the cause of the American
people and international peace and well-being.
There is no doubt that these simple rules of Communist propaganda
have been very carefully applied by the Slobodna Rec and the Narodni
Glasnik, although it might have appeared to readers not well enough
acquainted with Marxist theory and tactics that they were sometimes
deviating from the Communist line and assuming an unbiased or even
patriotic attitude.
Such cases do by no means indicate a deviation from the party line
but, on the contrary, are striking evidence of how closely and obediently
the Slobodna Rec and Narodni Glasnik have been following every twist
and turn of Communist tactics. All the propaganda of the Slobodna
Rec and Narodni Glasnik does not follow strictly and to the letter the
theories of Marx, Lenin, and Stalin. But that fact does not make it less
communistic, since —
Propaganda habits alone, the mere repetition of the truths of pure communism,,
is of no avail (V. I. Lenin, Left Wing Communism, an Infantile Disorder).
Communist action and propaganda, in order to be successful, require
a wide range of tactical lines to be applied, some of which may seem not
only inconsistent with Communist theory, but even contrary to it.
Our theory is not a dogma but a guide to action (Lenin, quoting Marx and En-
gels in Left Wing Communism, an Infantile Disorder).
The very cliaracteristic of the Communist pro 
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